Mythical bestiary

Salamandre

It's me!

Salamanders are spirits of fire, but are from the domain of the air. It's due to their fire's composition, made from aether burning. Because of that, they can be apparented to sylphes.

Salamanders are known to be experts in alchemy and legends say that they helped sages with their researches. They aren't very keen on fighting, but because their skin is scolding hot to the touch, it's most often not needed.

They are also known to be one of the most beautiful creature, only equaled by angels, sylphes and, depending on the tales, some water spirits like nymphes. Some myths tell tales of marriages between humans (usually alchemists) and salamanders. It seem salamanders tend to be fascinated by humans.

They aren't known to be able to breed, salamanders being born of pure fire, and living until their flames extinguish. A common supposition is that they breed by alchemy, hence their knowledge on the subject.

They also are one of the spirit with the longest lifespan, being comparable to stars. A lot of salamanders also achieve immortality, again via alchemy.

There is 4 types of salamanders, depending on how hot their original fire was. It doesn't seem to influence their capacity or mind in any way.

Red salamanders are the less hot and generally the smallest.
Orange are a bit hotter than the red ones, and the most common type.
Yellows are again, hotter than orange and the second most common type.
Purple are the hottest, their fire showing blue, purple and white. They are the rarest along with dark reds. Blue or white salamanders are also classified as purple due to their rarity.

I'm personally an orange or red salamander!

Although their human like form is their most common one, they can to will change into a more reptilian form. They in those cases look like a long reptile with several pairs of legs. Young ones usually have 6 to 12, but they can go to hundreds with ages.

They have a singular eye that shines like a gem in their reptilian form, and burn to extreme degrees. They usually don't shift unless their life is threatened.

Sadly, due to their rarity, their tendency to hide and the fact that they usually look humans when coming to the physical world, there isn't many legends about salamanders.

Here is the only one I heard, traduced as well as I could from French. Pardon my more than questionable English and the not very tale like turn of my writing.

Once upon a time, there was two brothers, Solemne and Mercurius, who both were alchemists. The two brothers worked together, and we're known in all the kingdoms for their talent.

But one day, the king's royal alchemist died, and a competition was held to find the new royal alchemist. The most talented alchemist in the kingdom would have access to countless riches, knowledge, and power.

This fractured the love between the brothers. Both were pushed by their greed, and wanted at any price to win.

Mercurius was the oldest, but Solemne was the most curious. Every experiments and prodigies Mercurius achieved, Solemne managed to do better.

Mercurius in a fit of rage, created a poison so painful that even the strongest man would die from only the pain. Solemne hid and watched him brew the horrible substance, realizing how terrible it was to use their talents too such ends.

He tried to apologize to calm down his brother, but Mercurius, thinking he was trying to trick him to find the recipe to his poison, threw the substance at his brother.

Solemne fell on the ground, writhing end barely breathing, as Mercurius realized what he did.

Mercurius used every cure he had, only managing to expend his brother's lifespan of a few days. The pain was still so extreme that Solemne could barely talk.

As Mercurius cried for his greed and pride, Solemne, like he was possessed, started to recite some kind of list, his skin hot like he had a fever.

His brother wrote it down and immediately realized it was an alchemy recipe. Following the instructions, he trapped the rays of the sun with two mirrors in a glass bottle, until a powder had appeared in it.

He then swallowed it, and lighted a large fire, making it burn brighter and brighter with all that he knew.

There, a man walked out of the fire, his skin red like the fire around him. His hair looked like the sun drapped itself on it's head, and his eyes were like molten rubies.

Mercurius begged the man to help him and his brother, told him that he would give anything for his brother to live. The man silently walked to Solemne and put his hands on his torso, Solemne clothes burning like paper, his skin miraculously indemn.

A light coursed through his veins, and when the stranger got up again, Solemne rose up. The stranger looked a last time at the brothers and went back into the fire.

Together again, they recreated the experience at the king's palace, if only to thank the stranger. The king, impressed by the two brothers numerous prowess, made them both royal alchemists.

Some say the Salamandre still helped them over the years, fascinated by the sciences in the royal palace, and that some members of the court witnessed the sight of a man more beautiful than anything they had seen in the alchemists quarters.

Tl;dr : Salamanders are fire nerds who really like humans and turn into lizard when anxious