Salamander: Elemental Dragon

Salamander: Elemental Dragon, known simply in Japan as Elemental Dragon (エレメンタルドラゴン), is an action RPG produced by Burst Arts and published by Multisoft. The game is centered on anthropomorphic dragons mastering the four elements. It focuses on each of the four main characters, all of whom are the fabled "Salamanders" throughout time. It has been released on the Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2014, with a Nintendo Switch release on 2017.

## Setting

Salamander takes place in a world of dragons. There exists four different kingdoms where dragons of a certain element reside. There is the Water Nation, where Water Dragons live, the Earth Kingdom, the home of the Earth Dragons, the Fire Kingdom, the residence of the Fire Dragons, and the Wind Tribes, where the Wind Dragons are organized. Normally, a dragon is only able to master one element, but the only exception is the eponymous legend, the Salamander. The Salamander is able to control four of the world's elements and destined to save the world from corrupt leaders, evil beings, and organizations. When a Salamander dies, they will later be reincarnated into a dragon of the corresponding element.

## Plot

The game focuses on four Salamanders facing their own trials: Hertha, an Earth Dragon princess who plans on overthrowing the Earth Kingdom's greedy ruler, Kohaku, a Fire Dragon criminal who must learn to reform himself in order to accept his Salamander destiny, Knoton, a Wind Dragon wanderer who finds himself in the future after 130 years of sleeping in the Dark Void, and Ran, a Water Dragon brawler who must face a organization hellbent on awakening an ancient evil.

## Characters

### Salamanders

Hertha: An Earth Dragon Salamander who is the princess of the Earth Kingdom. She's best known among citizens of the kingdom for incorporating her parasol in most of her earth abilities. Hertha is struggling to deal with the state of her kingdom being run by a selfish and greedy ruler named Dmitri. As a result, she plans on gathering most of the citizens of the Earth Kingdom and creating a new home for them. Her heroism has led to her forming an all-female military force known as the Hertha Valkyries.

Kohaku: A Fire Dragon Salamander who was accused of assaulting his best friend Geshi, the prince of the Fire Kingdom, and was sentenced to a life of imprisonment. However, upon realizing that he is a Salamander, he was given an early release to start his Salamander journey. As he was freed from prison, he thought of being a Salamander as "nothing much of a big deal," but soon he learns that everyone's lives are at stake. Eventually Kohaku learns that he was framed by Geshi, who had hypnotized one of his guardians to attack him.

Knoton: A Wind Dragon Salamander known throughout his tribe as a prodigy, mastering his wind abilities at the age of 13. When the tribe leaders discussed about him being a Salamander and his potential to save their clans, he could not handle the pressure of saving the world and disappeared. He retreated to a quiet place to take a nap, but a giant black void absorbed him in, trapping him in an eternal sleep for 130 years. When awakened, Knoton was told that the Wind Tribes went extinct and now the Fire Kingdom dominates almost all of the entire world. Willing to avenge his tribe, Knoton accepts his duty as Salamander and begins to fight the Emperor of Flames.

Ran: A Water Dragon Salamander who discovered her abilities at a much younger age than her predecessor. Unlike the Salamanders before her, she did not travel the world to gain better knowledge of the elements, but she was "home-schooled" by the Sages of the Blue Drop to learn how to control her abilities. She merely thought that just because she is a Salamander, she is superior to everyone else. However, after her encounter with an organization known for erasing the elemental abilities of other dragons, which they almost did to her, she began to take her role seriously. Ran learns that the organization she ran into were robbing the dragons of their elements as a means to awaken an ancient evil which has been sealed by the first Salamander, and now she must fight this organization to prevent it from happening.

### Companions

Bethany: A maid who once served Dmitri. She feels that her service has been abused by him, but shows no sign of hatred towards the king. With the help of Hertha, Bethany overthrows Dmitri and joins the Hertha Valkyries.

Natsumi: The daughter of a Fire Kingdom aristocrat who agrees to help Hertha overthrow Dmitri. She is also Hertha's teacher, training her how to control her fire powers.

Shui: A water dragon traveler who had a past with Dmitri and feared that his role as king had already went to his head. To help her fight against him, Shui teaches Hertha the art of water magic.

Nodin: A fellow wind dragon who is the partner and trainer of Kohaku. He was the one who persuaded Kohaku into taking his role as Salamander with more respect. After Kohaku's death, he becomes the guardian of the next Salamander, Knoton, before the Wind Dragons' extinction.

Artek: An earth dragon who rescues Knoton from his eternal sleep in the void. After telling him the truth of his race, he plans to make up for it by defeating the Emperor of Flames. Due to his inability to control earth, Artek relies on his hammer.

Jiang-Li: A water dragon girl who is Knoton's partner following his reawakening. With the absence of her father and the death of her mother, it was up to her to care for the young water dragons. She also teaches Knoton how to control water.

Fonda: An earth dragon princess who is often overprotected due to her crippled state. But in reality she is known as the greatest earth dragon in the world. Tempted by this, Knoton learns how to master earth from her.

Haruto: A young fire dragon prince sent to slay Knoton. To kill him would mean to regain his respect as prince of the Fire Kingdom. But once he heard that his father had ordered his soldiers to hunt him down, he decided to team up with Knoton and teach him fire magic.

Yuya: A fierce fire dragon who spends his life as an underground brawler. When his sister was kidnapped by the mysterious organization to take her magic away, he teams up with Ran to save her.

Qiu: A ditzy earth dragon and the younger sister of Yuya. While her brother has his underground brawling lifestyle, she does simple community tasks to receive money. Due to her lack of foresight, she was taken by the organization of Krom so that her element can be taken to awaken Krom.

Valentine: An elementless dragon woman and the daughter of a wealthy inventor. After hearing that her father has handed his inventions and businesses to the organization of Krom to assist them in absorbing the other dragons' elements, she teams up with Ran to stop them.

Anil: The son of Knoton and Jiang-Li who plans on rebuilding the long-lost cultures of Wind Dragons. He is also Ran's teacher in mastering wind, although the two had a rough start mainly because Ran is more into physical element usage. He later learns that there is more to life than bringing the Wind Dragons back to the world, especially with the organization of Krom around.

### Antagonists

Dmitri: The antagonist of the first chapter. He is the corrupt king of the Earth Kingdom around Hertha's time. Before he became king, he was a weak young dragon who was often abused by the previous king of the Earth Kingdom due to his fourth-class status. Since then, he has planned his revenge by strengthening his earth abilities and studying everything about the four dragon kingdoms. Once he took the throne, his first order is to execute those unworthy of living in his kingdom, including the Salamander. After Hertha separated half of the Earth Kingdom to form the Limestone Islands, Dmitri fell to his death.

Geshi: The antagonist of the second chapter. He is the prince of the Fire Kingdom, as well as the best friend of Kohaku. However, he tried to betray his friend by using his illusionary ability on one of his guards and attempted to attack him. He then framed Kohaku for the attack and had him jailed. But once he learned that Kohaku is a salamander, Geshi attempted to keep his cool demeanor until his coronation, where he planned on conquering the Earth Kingdom behind his back. After their final battle, Gesh left Kohaku for dead while preparing to hunt down the Wind Dragons, knowing the next Salamander will be born from that race.

Netsu: The antagonist of the third chapter. Netsu is the grandson of Geshi who plans on carrying his dying wish of conquering the world. When he heard about the return of the Salamander, he commanded his troops to find and capture Knoton. He plans on having Knoton join his army to compensate for the extinction of his race, even though it was against the latter's belief to never side with evil. After being turned down the request several times, Netsu then shifted his focus on becoming Lord of the Sun to destroy everything standing in his way. However, he was stopped by Knoton with a special ability that takes the element of one away, which becomes a primary tactic for the future organization of Krom.

Krom: The antagonist of the final chapter, as well as the final boss of the game. It is the dark half of the original dragon, which was known as the almighty god of the elements. For years it and its lighter half Shira have fought to maintain balance for the other dragons on the world. However, Krom felt like drawing its own influence onto the world, causing chaos and destruction until the first Salamander used the four elements to seal it away for 10,000 years. But 10,000 years later, a group of dragons formed the organization of Krom, using the element-absorbing techniques they picked up from Knoton to free it. When the organization's plan became successful, Krom emerged from its elemental prison and started summoning its dark versions of the elements, including time, to cause chaos once again. Now Ran and her allies, along with the previous Salamanders and their partners, must put a stop to this creature before the world ends.