Salamanders - Promethean Cult: The Promethean Cult governs the beliefs of the Salamanders, placing great emphasis on self-reliance, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. These values stem from their training as smiths.The Promethean Cult calls on its followers to emulate the deeds and be true to the teachings of the Nocturnean Primarch Vulkan as well as providing service to and worship of his father, the Emperor of Mankind.Prometheans believe deeply in the virtues of self-reliance and self-sacrifice for others, long defining cultural values of the Nocturnean people, who have struggled to survive the harsh environment of their volcanic and earthquake-wracked homeworld.They hold a firm belief in isolationism, the tenet that only through spiritual meditation and exploration performed alone and in isolation from others can a person gain a true understanding of both themselves and how they can best honour the legacy of Vulkan and serve the will of the Emperor.Prometheans make use of fire in many of their rituals and ceremonies and believe that they must be cleansed by the pain of fire before every major undertaking or initiative. The hammer -- sometimes called "Vulkan's Sigil" -- the forge and the anvil are also important symbols for Prometheans due to the importance of smithing in Nocturnean culture.Promethean believers also hold sacred the words of the ancient ritual book known as the Canticle of Immolation, which is often read by Salamanders Chaplains during the Chapter's various ceremonies.It is not uncommon for Salamanders Space Marines to engage in ritual scarring by branding and burning. Frequently held trials of walking over burning coals and carrying red-hot metal bars are a common occurrence.As the Promethean Cult openly calls on its adherents to venerate the primarchs and follow the Emperor loyally, it is not considered heretical by the Ecclesiarchy and instead has received official sanction as one of the accepted variants of the Imperium's state religion, the Imperial Creed.Brander-priests are a valued group of Chapter serfs who administer the ritual brands to the flesh of the Salamanders Astartes. Achievements and honours are recorded in brands upon the flesh of each Astartes, and the brands wind around the limbs and body of the Space Marine. Once healed, each of these scars represents a living history of the Salamanders' many conflicts. Each was a battle won, a foe vanquished.No Salamander went into battle without first being marked to honour it and then again at battle's end to commemorate it. Over the centuries of service to the Chapter these honour marks would come to wreathe a battle-brother's legs, arms, torso and back. They were intricate, and became more detailed as each new honour scar was added.Only the most senior Veterans of the Chapter, a Salamander with standard centuries of service, ever bore such markings on their faces, as their entire bodies were covered in honour marks.Chapter Master Tu'Shan is said to possess so many of these honour marks that he has run out of room on his flesh and instead has to have fresh honours marked directly onto his battle-plate. Brander-priests are assigned upon an Astartes' induction into the Chapter and will ideally serve with that particular Space Marine for their entire lives.Pilots are the only warriors in the Chapter who may ritually scar their faces before the rest of their bodies, for pilots will traditionally brand the Dactyl's Sigil on their faces, the symbol of the Dactyl, an avian predator native to Nocturne. Captain Dac'tyr of the 4th Company bears a particularly large and detailed sigil as befits his rank as the Chapter's Master of the Fleet.The reptilian salamanders after which the Chapter are named can live very long lives indeed; the oldest and most legendary drakes are revered in the Chapter's legends, such as the mighty Kessare whose hide is worn by the Forgefather Vulkan He'stan and Kessarghoth, Guardian of the Gate of Fire, a mythical drake of Nocturne whose spirit appeared recently in the Totem Walk of Lexicanium Dak'ir. Those drakes hunted by the Astartes of the Chapter are named and remembered as well.Those Salamanders battle-brothers facing a crisis of belief or purpose will sometimes choose to undertake a ritual known as the "Burning Walk." The battle-brother departs the Chapter dressed only in the robes of a Nocturnean desert traveller and armed only with a walking staff, to travel the dunes and deserts of Nocturne until their crisis is resolved and they return.Few Astartes who undertake the Burning Walk return, however, and the ritual is more often than not a death sentence.