Finally got around to making a real, full reference for Salamander! He's among my oldest characters, from like 2002. Surprisingly, aside from style changes, he hasn't been modified much at all in that time.

Salamander is a fire elemental dragon who, like Griffon, was originally a human mercenary from the outskirts of Paris, France, but was killed in combat and reincarnated by elementals. Able to switch between human and dragon forms, his feral form is the one he chooses to be in most often. He's French and despite speaking English fluently, his accent can make it hard to understand him. When someone is bothering him, he'll slip in foreign words and not even try to pronounce things like the English version of the word. He was once in a very chaotic relationship with a Scottish woman who tried to kill him. Salamander does not yet consider himself a "true dragon" because of his (relative to most dragons) young age and inexperience, but he hopes to one day learn their culture and language as he will spend the rest of this life as one of them. He has an alpha personality but is able to follow commands, assuming he believes they're for the best or close enough.

He's large and strong, able to carry multiple people on his back as he flies. He is built for power but can still move decently fast like many other large reptiles. He has several "fang plates" as I call them, basically arrowhead pieces of bone under rock-hard leather around his mouth. Two are the bits of his lip on either side that point down and the other is the beaked part at the end of his snout. Under the side-of-the-mouth plates are regular large fangs. His long, curved ears have a short range of movement, unable to full stand up or point forward. They can raise up and down about 45 degrees (they're in a middle position in the picture) and can swing outward to help catch sounds better. Like his counterpart Skulla, Sala can control the temperature of his flames, lowering them to a tolerably cool 100F for the safety of riders and allies. He is a pyromancer.

He's lawful Evil and follows Griffon's lead loyally. People often confuse him and Skulla as brothers (mostly when in human form, as they are almost identical) and neither really correct it. In actuality, Skullamander is another universe's version of Salamander. They are constantly near one another. He can sometimes be seen with a lit cigarette despite the fact that he doesn't really smoke. he kinda just likes lighting and holding them. He abandoned his old name. He hasn't told anyone what it was and insists his only name now is Salamander. He grew up in a small, wealthy family with parents who expected much of him. He often jokes that if they knew he was a mercenary, they'd never forgive him. He loved being on his own, even if his first apartment was small and junky. Independence was more important to him at that point than luxuries he didn't need.

While helping the head scientist, Novaa, with a teleporter project, something malfunctioned, there was a blinding flash, a loud bang, and both Salamander and a new dragon, Skullamander, were thrown from the device. Skullamander knew everyone's names and the layout of the island and facility, but nobody knew who he was. It is possibly these are Salamander's memories, and he was created during the blast somehow. They act as brothers and are very close now.

He was actually one of my first RP characters from like... 2003? 2004? Somewhere around there. In about 2009 or so when I made my Steam account, he was my Steam identity until I made Skullamander in 2014. I just felt as if I didn't play how Sala would, but wanted something familiar because of how long he was my Steam name.