The Salamandry are beings as fickle as the Force of Chaos that shaped them. Their lives begin and end with fire: each Salamander is conceived within a bonfire, and their bodies burn to ashes after death. Unsurprisingly, their culture also revolves around the flame. Most Salamandry are especially inclined to follow gods of fire, and their language and idiom is filled with terms involving flame.

Physically, Salamandry are compact in build, unlikely to top six feet in height. It's not unusual to find a grown Salamander well under five feet tall, although few are less than four and a half feet. They're quite nimble and flexible, well beyond human norms. Their coloring is, at first glance, not that far off human ideas of normal: their complexion ranges from a reddish tan to a very deep brown, and their hair, though slightly more shiny than one might expect, is some shade of white or grey...at least, when they're asleep or unconscious. When they're awake, a Salamander's hair is perpetually on fire, flickering or guttering in ways that reflect their mood. Fortunately, the fire doesn't actually burn anything it comes into contact with.

Get close enough, and even without the fiery hair, Salamandry start looking less human. Their eyes are slitted like a reptile's, with irises colored yellow, orange, red, or occasionally blue, like a flame. Their brown skin is actually a fine pattern of lizard-like scales; in the right conditions, they become chameleons, their skin changing to match their surroundings. The right conditions are rare in the Crux--for the most part, it's too cool and dry.

There are a few artificial hot springs around Izanagi's Mirror, though, where Salamandry gather to bask in the steam and converse chaotically amongst themselves. Where possible, they prefer to go naked, but they loathe the cold with a passion, so even the temperate climate of the Crux forces them to wear a few scraps of clothing (although they still often violate decency laws across the multiverse, complaining about the cold the whole time).

All Salamandry have some ability to control fire. Each tribe has a multitude of stories explaining how the degree of this ability is determined--the material of the bonfire within which the Salamandry was conceived, the number of fires the mother tended during pregnancy, all sorts of things--but really, nobody knows for sure. Some Salamandry can barely control the flame of a candle; others can summon up raging conflagrations at will. All share one ability, though: fire does not harm them. In fact, prolonged contact with open flame tends to act as an aphrodisiac for them.

Little is known about Salamander society. At first this lack of knowledge could be mistaken for secrecy on the part of the Salamandry themselves, but anyone who spends enough time around them will eventually realize that their society simply doesn't have enough structure for there to *be* much to know about it. Oh, they have stories and legends and art and traditions, but these vary so wildly among the tribes that it would be impossible to sort them all out.