Salamanders (Chapter)

Salamanders
Battle Cry	"Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!" and "For the Emperor and His people!"
Number	XVIII
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Successor Chapters	Storm Giants and Black Dragons are suspected
Chapter Master	Tu'Shan
Primarch	Vulkan
Homeworld	Nocturne
Strength	940 (1 Veteran Company, 6 Battle Companies, 1 Scout Company)* confirmed in novel "Rebirth"
Specialty	Close quarters battle
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Green, black, gold

The Salamanders are one of the First Founding Space Marine Chapters in Warhammer 40,000. They are known for their love of flamer and melta weapons, preference for close-quarters combat, complete unwillingness to retreat or surrender and being fairly nice guys by space marine standards. They are also infamous for proving that Games Workshop is racist (at least according to /tg/) and are arguably the most shit-upon Chapter fluff-wise, besides the Lamenters, Raven Guard, and Iron Hands. The chapter is named after the mythological fire-lizard of the same name.

Salamanders in WH40K

The Salamanders is a Space Marine chapter based on the Death World Nocturne. Nocturne is a volcanic planet with some truly ridiculous shifting gravity. As such, its people developed a slow, methodical approach to life, coupled with a healthy respect/fetish for fire. Salamanders have somewhat slower reaction time compared to other Astartes (but still blindingly fast compared to humans; it's like comparing Core 2 Duo, Core i7 and Pentium I). The planet's only reason for continued settlement is its rich mineral deposits, making metalworking an important profession to the point of bordering on a priesthood. These traits carried over to the Salamanders, who are known amongst other things for fielding tough, hard-to-break units and for giving every man and his servo-skull a flamer or melta gun.(Put a couple of C'tan with the Lord of Fire power in your necron army for the lulz.) They are also well known for making almost all of their own equipment by hand, with each man held responsible for making and maintaining his own armor. They import the few things they cannot manufacture on their home world directly from the Adeptus Mechanicus, who likes them more than the ungrateful dicks who keep using up all their ammunition on drills and "practice fights". The rest of their wargear is made by the Chapter artificers and Techmarines and they produce some of the best armor and weapons of any marine chapter, because they're not busy repairing every scratch on the armor of the other 940 (1 Veteran Company, 6 Battle Companies, 1 Scout Company). The result is that each marine is equipped with practically master-crafted weapons and wears near-artificer level armor. For comparison, Artificer armor is basically equal to terminator armor in capabilities. Their entire chapter is like that.

The Salamanders

A fetish for fire

The Salamanders themselves are perhaps the most bro-tier of all Space Marine chapters, the Space Wolves coming in a close second. They regularly act in thankless rearguard or civilian defense actions, as seen on Armageddon, and rather than spend their free time in their super-awesome orbital fortress monastery, they hang out on the planet's surface chilling with the locals, many actually living normal lives among the people or wandering the planet as hermits when not on active combat duty.

In terms of tactics, the Salamanders are one of the simpler chapters; "Wait for it...", "Burn that shit", and "Never say die" are about the sum of their tactics. The number of heat-based weapons they can field is truly alarming, as is a certain special character of theirs who can make them twin-linked. The fact that each man repairs and maintain his own armor ensures that their chapter Artificers can be free to make truly awesome stuff. They field few if any vehicles, and those they do field tend to be big mobile blocks of armor rather than zippy little flyers because of the lulzy gravitation on Nocturne, which ensures you can't fly a Speeder there without risking sudden anti-grav failure.

Of course, if you ask a fa/tg/uy what comes to mind first when they hear the word "Salamanders," you're likely to be answered with a racial slur and/or a number of pictures showing fried chi- *BLAM!* DISCRIMINATION AND STEREOTYPING AGAINST THE EMPEROR'S DEFENDERS OF HUMANITY BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN COLOR IS HERESY!. This is because, due to genetic radiation protection, all Salamanders are black. We're talking coal black, pitch black, hexadecimal code #000000, the missing word in the phrase "...as the void of space." That kind of black (which actually is not uncommon among Central Africans; the reason most black people you can think of are lighter is because they are A: African-American, and thus mixed with Europeans; and B: Of West African descent, for the same reason (Europeans took most of their slaves from the shores). With glowing red eyes.

They're the only known black people in the universe, is what we're trying to say here (Though several other places, including Catachan and Tallarn would beg to differ, not to mention the dark-skinned sons of Elysium).

One would think that with all of the fire motifs in their chapter, that the Sisters of Battle would be best buddies with these Marines. Unfortunately, due to racism, all the GW writers are scared that the Salamanders are snatchin' up all their white womenz (Probably also has something to do with the whole "Promethean Cult" being a definite outlier on the scale of "Acceptable ways to worship the God-Emperor").

Also, that bit about tattoos in the racist jokes under here? Totally true. That's seriously a thing, they just use brands instead.

And if that wasn't enough, the ally matrix in ForgeWorld's Horus Heresy spinoff demonstrates that the Salamanders were the most liked of all the legions. Seriously, the only factions rivaling them for good ties are the Imperial army and the Mechanicum (who everyone kisses up to anyway). Hilariously, one of the 3 chapters they dislike (though not enough to put them on red terms with anyone) are the Ultramarines. They weren't fans of the Word Bearers either, even before the whole Heresy and ritual murder-torture thing.

Organization

POINTLESS STEREOTYPING FOR THE EMPEROR, FOR VULKAN, AND MOST OF ALL; THE LULZ, WILL NOW FOLLOW.

Unlike many followers of the Codex Astartes, the Salamanders have actually adopted different organization for their army:

1) First Founding Chapter: Like many Space Marines chapters, the Salamanders were broken down to several second and third founding chapters. Second and onward founding chapters refer to the Salamanders as the OGs.

2) Battle Companies: Each marine is distributed throughout these companies of 120 marines each, but these are called "home boys" instead of companies, save for the 1st company who took the title "Originalus Gangstium".

3) Battle Brothers: Battle Brothers within the chapter who pass a traditionally brutal period of marine training (locally called "hazing") are normally referred to as bruthas, homies, gangstas or "niggus", they stick together no matter how dire the situation is and are reprimanded with social alienation or other forms of punishment in the event they fail. They also follow a strict code of behavior extracted from the pages of the Book of Vulkan, "Broz before Hoez" and "Salamanders fo' life" are two of its tenets. Salamanders are marked with the ritual iconography of their chapter on a body part of the brother's choice, which is applied in a similar manner how the early humans marked their skin in a ritual called "tattoo," with further branding performed upon the completion of great deeds of note.

In addition, the Salamander's refer to their Apothecary's as "Docs" (Renown for their use of the ancient terran compound called "Robitussin" to cure any ailment and injury their fellow Battle Brothers may acquire) and Chaplains by the terms "Soul Man" or "Soul Brother", who holds their usual duties as the chapter's guardians of faith, but sing all their preachings, using the old Terran form of music called "blues" "gospel".

4) Battle Barges: The Salamanders often travel through Fleets that they normally refer to as Yachts, "big mama in the house" normally means "commence Exterminatus".

5) Land Raiders: The Salamander Land Raiders are normal landraiders but fitted with unnecessary but fashionable accessories. The treads of the Land Raider are lined up with a lustrous creamite finish, the hull sporting a compartment for large speakers with the suspensions interchanged with hydraulic springs that are capable of lifting all sides of the tank at a maximum height of 24 inches. They are known to entirely rely upon the sponsons and are known to fit their transports with firing slits for their famed assault tactic called the "drive by" or "spray and pray" when fighting in urban areas.

When not engaged in battle, they use their Land Raiders to pick up off-duty Sisters of Battle and Imperial Guardswomen. Some of whom they later pay credits for their services. Despite protests by many more conservative chapters, the women themselves are fond of the practice, frequently commenting upon the coital skill and impressive genitalia of the Salamanders, whose gene-seed has become infamous for its generosity in that regard. A large number even request to be permanently attached to the chapter, leading to the joke that "once one has tasted the dangling fruits of Nocturne, none other can ever satisfy." Colloquially, this is rendered: "Once you go Black, you never go back!"

Their Rhino transports are also fitted with the same attachments, albeit on a smaller scale, for the same purpose stated above. Chaos Lords understandably call them "BOOM BOXES" due to their loud speakers, Noise Marines simply get jealous.

6) Bolt Weaponry: Because the majority of the Salamander's weaponry are flamers, Salamander marines often find it difficult to procure automatic bolt guns. The chapter's Techmarines are known to retrofit bolt pistols to fire at an automatic pace but this practice is forbidden by the Adeptus Mechanicus and these Techmarines could face imprisonment on Mars if they are caught performing this modification on these weapons. Typically referred to by the Salamanders as "gats," "pieces," "steel," "strap," and the flame/melta weapons are typically referred to as "heaters" or "blasters".

7) Off Battle: The Salamanders are one of the few chapters allowed to have "Free Time" in their daily rituals, and extended for up to more than 5 hours than the standard 30 minutes, physical activities might be limited to an ancient Terran game of "Street Hoops". Salamanders normally spend their time relaxing, playing obnoxiously loud classical music known as "rap" over the vox, binge-drinking Space Wolf-grade alcoholic beverages, partaking in the inhalation of the smoke of an ancient Terran weed whose name is different depending on where in the Imperium you are wrapped in specially-made purity scrolls, picking up Sisters of Battle if available, and customizing their Rhinos and Land Raiders. Salamanders also get into more trouble with local Adeptus Arbites agents than the usual marine chapter, although many argue this is simply a result of the legends of the Arbites singling out the chapter as troublemakers. This usually leads to the battle brothas speaking out in protest. Shouting things such as, "Fuck da Arbites", and "NocturneLivesMatter."

Also because Nocturne resides on the Segmentum Ultima in the Galactic East, their most common battle cries include "EAST FRINGE MUTHA FUCKAZ", "They see us rollin', they hatin'!", and "Reparations for the Drop Site Massacre!" It is a common misunderstanding that the Salamanders charge higher tithes upon the worlds that fall under their domain due to increases in expenses paid out as Juvenile Support. Nocturne Governor denied this, citing increase in Promethium prices as a result of an energy crisis in the Segmentum Ultima.

Daily Rituals of a Salamander

The daily rituals of the Salamanders take noticeably longer than other Chapters due to Nocturnean pragmatism...and the times are due to...well...you know...

• 12:00: "Morning" Prayer: The Salamanders are roused to begin the day with a few litanies from the Promethean Cult.
• 13:00: "Morning" Firing Rituals: The Salamanders practice their firing skills. Usually using flamers or meltaguns instead of bolters.
• 15:00: Battle practice: The Salamanders descend to the practice cages. Cages have usually been repaired from all the burn damage from the previous day by that point.
• 18:00: Hammer time: The Salamanders take to the maintenance of their wargear while also forging new weapons and armor.
• 20:00: "Midday" meal: A light meal prepared by the chapter serfs is consumed. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers are usually a component of this, Habaneros are employed for occasions when the Salamanders might prefer something on the milder side.
• 21:00: Pimping of the Rides: The Rhinos, Land Raiders, and Predators are pimped out with sufficient bling.
• 22:00: "Afternoon" Firing Rituals: The Salamanders again take to practicing their firing skills. Again using flamers and meltaguns instead of bolters.
• 00:00: "Evening" meal: A feast prepared by the Chapter serfs is consumed. The meal usually consists of an ancient Terran fruit called a "Watermelon" and a helping of a certain flightless, avian animal, fried to a crisp. Beverages usually consist of a ancient Terran form of malt liquor called "Old English" or just "Ol' E". On special occasions they may even break out an ancient carbonated drink referred to "Cristal".
• 01:00: Free time: The Salamanders are given free time from their duties. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor. Others go and chill with the folks in the Sanctuary Cities on Nocturne and play a game referred to as "Dominoes" or one called "Spades".
• 04:00: Lights out: The Salamanders retire for the "evening".

Racism Allegations

The chapter's most closely guarded secret

The Salamanders are the only Space Marine chapter that entirely comprises black people and was thought to be the only Space Marine chapter to harbor black people up until Jonah Orion from the Blood Ravens came into the storyline (Most probably stolen from Salamanders as with all other relics). The accusations either came from stereotyping or that being the only Space Marine chapter with black people evoked segregation.

This was explained in early editions by the legion descending from Vulkan; his dark (and toughened) skin was designed to be proof against the heat and radiation of Nocturne, his death-world homeworld. 5th Edition SM Codex explains this trait as the reaction of the Melanochromic organ implant, which indeed changes the skin color according to environment (so Marines should turn black when they face intense sunlight) to radiation on Nocturne. The full physical appearance of a Salamander Space Marines is red eyes (hair color, if they have any hair, is unknown) and their skin is actual black. This skin coloration, while rare, does occur in real-life. For example, among some of the people from West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, and it's more common among Central African countries such as Cameroon.

They also have no African features whatsoever. Appearing simply as Caucasians with skin as dark as the void. This has led the Salamanders to be compared to characters from a minstrel show since that makes them look like Caucasians wearing blackface. No! No, no! Go to your room Games Workshop, especially Matt Ward, and stay there until you learn something about being racially/ethnically sensitive!

The ideal solution would be to have more ethnic diversity in most if not all the Space Marine chapters (and the other playable factions in the Imperium). Unfortunately, racism allegations aside, this is Games Workshop we're talking about; they're about as sensible as Khorne and as malleable as Nurgle. (Seriously, look at some of their art. It's not like they DON'T have SOME black people. Where else would the Blood Ravens steal Jonah Orion from?)

(Actually the Tome of Fire books by Nick Kyme reveal that the native population of Nocturne IS "black" in the modern day sense, along with some rare albino populations that live in caves and rarely see sunlight. Thus by joining the Salamanders, a neophyte becomes "super-black".)

Gallery

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  Sorry Sarge, but your Thunderhammer is Epic Fail.

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  If at first you don't succeed. Twin-linked goodness.

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  Kill it with FIRE! Always!

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  Even in death, I still Burn Shit Up!

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  In all honesty though, they're pretty nice guys...

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  They're even great with children!

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  Vulkan He'stan's artificer suit