Salamandra (Species)

Salamandra (singular Salamander) - (I. Volcánico Sapien) - are a species native to Salamandra and a subject species of the Solstern Empire. They are reptilian in appearance, resembling humanoid volcanic lizards. 
== History ==
=== Evolution ===
Interestingly enough, it appears that the Salamandra were originally from Iguala Primal, a distant cousin of the Iguanos. The Salamandra evolved specifically in the volcanic regions of the planet from their reptilian ancestors, having much higher resistance to heat and capable of surviving in the harsher conditions than their Iguanos counterparts. Though food in these areas was scarce, lack of natural predators led to rising populations, which forced the Salmandra's ancestors to eventually develop tight knit communities to compete for food. 
=== Rise of the Volcánico Sapiens ===
As fierce competition and ever increasing rising populations continued to plague the Salamandra, communication and innovation became essential to survival. The ability to protect territory was especially important and this was achieved astoundingly by a communal effort by Salamandra communities to dig channels through which lava cut off enemy territories from their own, or covering up such channels as expansion became necessary. Even with such methods, food supplies continued to decline and Salamandra communities began to barter and trade for food, forming primitive alliances to defeat invaders and absorbing, or eliminating smaller communities. Naturally this form of primitive communication led to the eventual use of tools, and the forming of an intelligent society. 
=== The Age of Tides ===
As soon as they became intelligent enough, Salamandra communities began building primitive sea vessels and sailing between islands, meeting similar communities of their own species, they began to barter with richer ones, explore less inhabited islands and conquer the ones with communities too small and weak to defend themselves. This is known as the Age of Tides, when the primary focus was on improving technology related to sea travel, building bigger ships that could carry back more food, or carry out more explorers or warriors. The Salamandra possessed at this time naval technology unprecedented by any species in such a primitive tribal stage of development, even reaching to the point of having an entire armada. It is speculated that the Salamandra could have eventually conquered their larger Iguanos cousins if things took their natural course.
=== The Solstern Abductions ===
It is not clear exactly where the Solsterns came from as a species, but they were far advanced compared to any other race in the galaxy at the point in time they abducted the Salamandra. The Solsterns had sent out ships to explore the rest of the Galaxy with the intent to colonize suitable planets, but alas, Iguala Primal was too far to be a feasible location for colonization. However, The Solstern did have a volcanic planet right in their own territory, one that was rich with resources, but was uninhabitable for any species in the Solstern Empire, in an age where Terra-forming was not advanced enough to be economic or sustainable. The Salamandra were a perfect species to colonize that planet with and so the Solsterns decided to abduct them for that purpose.
The Salamandra, still in their tribal stage, lacking any meaningful technology, or territory to hide or defend themselves, were easily rounded up from their islands by the Solsterns, it is estimated that nearly 90% of all Salamanders were taken, with the remaining population unable to rebuild their numbers and eventually perishing. The abducted Salamandra were quickly thrust into education and indocrination camps, handed rudimentary technology and sent to colonize and mine their new planet.
=== In Service of the Innox ===
One particular innox, by the name of Desmodus Spada Iliescu, abbreviated D'sparil was the advent for the events that unfolded next. D'sparil reached out to the other subject races, rallying them to his cause to fight against the injustice the Solstern were inflicting upon them. He played to the subject races' fears and ambitions, and was skillfully able to rally the vast majority of subject races to his side. The Salamandra, still bitter and resentful of the Solstern for abducting them and thrusting them into a life of slavery on a planet with extremely harsh conditions, were eager to cut off the Solsterns from the minerals they have become so dependent on, and supplying the Innox instead. 
Once the Innox took over, they invested significantly in the well being of the subject races, including using the latest technologies to make Salamandra more inhabitable, causing many of the volcanoes on the surface to go dormant and greatly reducing the amounts of ash and lava, turning the planet from an ash-covered hell-scape into a volcanic tropical paradise. Though many volcanoes still remained active, many zones became habitable and comfortable, even for other species to live in. Salamandras have maintained fierce loyalty to the Innox since, becoming one of the most reliable and trusted of the Subject Species and adopting the nobility structure practiced by the Innox to their own society (with some adjustments). 
== Biology ==
===Habitat===
The Salamandra live mostly in coastal regions, particularly near volcanoes, in mostly tropical areas. Being suited both to high and low precipitation, sunlight and heat, they are most comfortable in volcanic environments between 20 °C and 40 °C.
===Biological Variation===
The Salamandra species has a great deal of diversity, ranging in colors from dull grays, browns and greens to vibrant reds, purples and oranges with an endless variety of patterns on their scales. Eye colors can range from black to yellow, green or blue.
===Life Cycles===
It is important to know that the physical development of the Salamandra is directly tied to the development of their brains and with the exception of a few rare conditions, a Salamander's life cycle is determined entirely by the development of their brain. The stages are as follows:
====Egg====
The Salamandra procreate sexually, with fertilization being internal. Sexual activity occurs inside the cloaca. Once a female Salamandra is fertilized she will lay an egg that may hatch within 8-10 weeks depending on environmental conditions and incubation. 
====Hatchling====
Once hatched the newborn is referred to as a "hatchling". Salamandra babies are hatched completely quadrupedal and with tails and may even appear to be non sapient lizards to the uninformed. Within the first weeks they already grow independent and begin exploring. As they grow towards their infancy stage, their body structure morphs to become bipedal as their brain develops social and communication skills. Salamandra will begin preschool at this stage and only graduate it once they are fully bipedal and their tail has regressed into their bodies, a strong indication of full brain development, which usually occurs at the latest within their first 2 years. 
=====Gecko Syndrome=====
A rare developmental condition affecting hatchlings may cause their brain to never fully develop social and communication skills, which has the side effect of never maturing the body to the bipedal form. Hatchlings affected by this condition will only retain basic communication and social skills and mostly lack any further sapient skills expected to develop, being only slightly more intelligent than actual animals. Of note is that their bodies will not cease growth and will still reach their full size. In history, Solsterns were keenly interested in this condition and often would take such children to be used as animals. There is no known cure for this condition.
====Infancy==== 
The infancy stage resembles that of most sapient species, with the exception of being markedly shorter. Salamandra brains will develop rapidly at this phase and they will become curious and explorative about the world around them (Within Salamandra families it is often affectionately called 'Annoying Questions Phase' - Due to Salamandra children constantly asking questions about anything new they encounter to the point of exhausting their parents).
Salamandra will exit this stage at around the age of 3 years.
====Childhood====
The Childhood of a typical Salamandra young would involve the development of advanced motor skills and coordination as a major focus. Already as hatchlings, Salamandra are very capable with their motor functions, able to climb, hang and manipulate objects with all four extremities. As children, Salamandra coordination is such that they can climb nearly vertical walls without needing to use their arms and traverse harsh environments very quickly. Sports that require agility, dexterity and coordination are regularly practiced in Salamandra schools such as, but not limited to: Rock Climbing, Fencing, Ball games, obstacle courses traversal, etc... 
Salamandra children also develop faster than most, reaching sexual maturity the age of 6 years. 
====Sexual Maturity====
Salamandra who reach sexual maturity are not considered adult until their brains are fully developed. In this time they will hone their physical, intellectual and mental skills through experimentation and tutelage. This life stage is categorized by intense ambition for self improvement and a desire to experiment. "Try everything once", is a phrase often associated with Salamandra teenagers. Salamandra continue to grow after reaching sexual maturity for the rest of their lives, in smaller increments as their age rises.
Salamandra will exit this stage once their brain fully develops at around the age of 15 years.
====Adulthood====
Once a Salamandra individual's brain has fully developed, they are expected to have already identified their strengths, ambitions and located suitable partners, leaving the parent family cell and starting a new one. In this phase their biology does not undergo any significant changes, aging does not occur physically for Salamanders until they exit this stage, somewhere within their 7th decade.
====Seniority====
Once a Salamandra individual's brain begins to deteriorate, their bodies will begin to age accordingly. This stage of life is very short and usually ends within a decade, with the passing away of the individual.
== Behavior ==
=== Language ===
Salamandra actually use an older Iguanos dialect mixed in with their own language, indicating that they may have had contact before with the Iguanos at the time they were developing proper language, or otherwise decided to adopt a more well constructed language from the Iguanos and mixing it with their own. However, the difference between the evolution of both dialects is so great, that they cannot understand each other's languages, with the exception of stray words. 
Salamandra is a fusional language. The noun and adjective systems exhibit two genders and two numbers. In addition, articles and some pronouns and determiners have a neuter gender in their singular form. There are about fifty conjugated forms per verb, with 3 tenses: past, present, future; 2 aspects for past: perfective, imperfective; 4 moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative; 3 persons: first, second, third; 2 numbers: singular, plural; 3 verboid forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle. The indicative mood is the unmarked one, while the subjunctive mood expresses uncertainty or indetermination, and is commonly paired with the conditional, which is a mood used to express "would" (as in, "I would eat if I had food); the imperative is a mood to express a command, commonly a one word phrase -- "Talk!".
Salamandra syntax is considered right-branching, meaning that subordinate or modifying constituents tend to be placed after their head words. The language uses prepositions (rather than postpositions or inflection of nouns for case), and usually—though not always—places adjectives after nouns.
The language is classified as a subject–verb–object language; however, constituent order is highly variable and governed mainly by topicalization and focus rather than by syntax. It is a "pro-drop", or "null-subject" language—that is, it allows the deletion of subject pronouns when they are pragmatically unnecessary. Salamandra is described as a "verb-framed" language, meaning that the direction of motion is expressed in the verb while the mode of locomotion is expressed adverbially.
Subject/verb inversion is not required in questions, and thus the recognition of declarative or interrogative may depend entirely on intonation.
Salamandra is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language: each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress.
Intonation varies significantly according to dialect but generally conforms to a pattern of falling tone for declarative sentences and wh-questions (who, what, why, etc.) and rising tone for yes/no questions. 
There are no syntactic markers to distinguish between questions and statements and thus, the recognition of declarative or interrogative depends entirely on intonation.
Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth-last or earlier syllables. The tendencies of stress assignment are as follows:
* In words that end with a vowel, stress most often falls on the penultimate syllable.
* In words that end with a consonant, stress most often falls on the last syllable.
* Preantepenultimate stress (stress on the fourth-to-last syllable) occurs rarely
=== Marriage and Procreation ===
As a species, the Salamandra are predominantly monogamous, and will rarely actively seek out other romantic partners if they are already engaged in a romantic relationship. Much of the culture of the Salamandra revolves around the idealization of romance in folklore, songs and gestures. Salamanders typically have 3-4 children on average, but have been known to have 7-8 frequently. Noble families may have up to 20 children from the same parents, usually to maximize the odds at creating blood relations by marrying them off to other noble families, or getting them adopted by Innox.
=== Relationship with the Innox ===
The Salamandra are proud members of the Solstern Empire and are very close to the Innox. They are considered one of, if not the most reliable subject species in the Empire and are often serve in executive positions under the Innox within the Imperial Establishments. It has become a habit of some Innox nobles to adopt young Salamandra as personal servants. A yearly festival on Salamandra gives families the opportunity to compete for the right to have their children displayed to be picked by the Innox for such purposes.
=== Nomenclature ===
Like their Innox rulers, Salamandra adopted the practice of having multiple names. However with the Salamandra, it evolved so that all children generally have the surnames of both of their parents, with the father's surname being the one commonly used. As such, a Salamandra name could be Salazar Sasportas-Castillo but will only be spoken as Salazar Sasportas, outside of introductions.
A Salamander will often introduce themselves with their full name first, then the name of their home village - e.g. Salazar Sasportas-Castillo de Salamanca
The name "Sal" is an incredibly common abbreviation in Salamander culture, and can be used as the abbreviation for dozens of names such as Salvador, Salazar, Salamandra (or the masculine Salamander) and so on. As such, in many cases Salamanders may refer to each other by their surnames instead, or by pet names. It is not uncommon for a single Salamander Family to have 3-4 children named Sal, male or female all at one dinner table.
=== Honorifics ===
Mr 	Domino / Do
Mrs	Domina / D-na / Dna
Ms 	Domnisoara / D-soara / Dsoara
== Notable Salamandra ==
Salazar Sasportas 
Salazar Venom Fang 
Salamandra Sasportas 
Salsa 
Drake 
Category:Galaxy One Species
Category:Solstern Empire Species