History Literature / Salamanders

Following a disastrous campaign on the planet Stratos (see the short story `Fires of War' in the ''Heroes of the Space Marines'' book for details) the Salamanders 3rd Company is still reeling from the loss of their captain and the internal politics of the company isn't helping in the least. When the company uncovers a relic from the past that could lead to information on their missing Primarch they embark on a mission that could either heal their troubles or make them worse.

* DespairEventHorizon: ''Salamander'', the [[HurtingHero obviously suffering]] Fugis confesses to having lost faith at the death of their captain.

* {{Bishonen}}: [[spoiler:Chaplain Elysius]], much to everyone's surprise. He is, in fact, ''so'' pretty that he ends up getting his own personal StalkerWithACrush in the form of a Dark Eldar Wych.

They are the subject of Nick Kyme's ''Tome Of Fire'' trilogy, comprising ''Salamander'', ''Firedrake'' and ''Nocturne.''

Please resist the urge to put examples on this page or link to this page on tropes unless you are citing from 40K '''novels''' in which the Salamanders feature. Examples which are specific to rulebooks or other in-universe fluff should go on either the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} 40K page]] or in the [[Characters/Warhammer40000Astartes Space Marines section]] of the [[Characters/Warhammer40000CurrentImperialFactions Imperial factions page]].

* {{Expy}}: Iagon for Iago from Theatre/{{Othello}}, and Black Dragon Space Marine Zartath for ''{{Wolverine}}'' of all people, right down to directly quoting some of his lines.

* ManipulativeBastard: Iagon reveals his TrueColors when he manipulates Tsu'gan into not reporting his [[DividedWeFall ploys]]. [[spoiler:Followed up by his reflection that he has to do something about the Apothecary who knows, and later by his murdering a helpless servant.]]

* BerserkButton DON'T harm civilians in front of them.

* DueToTheDead

* BadassPreacher: Chaplain Elysius, to the nth degree.

* {{BFG}} The Eye of Vulkan, which orbits Nocturne.
** Also the Seismic Cannon

* BadDreams: Dak'ir dreams of the past, including Bad Dreams about Moribar. This may be related to his DreamingOfThingsToCome.

* BadDreams: Dak'ir dreams of the past, including Bad Dreams about Moribur. This may be related to his DreamingOfThingsToCome.

** Also Nocturne: [[spoiler:Dak'ir, Tsu'gan, and Emek are dead, and Nihilan managed to escape with a copy of the Tome of Fire that details resurrection in the hopes or raising Ushorak, but Nocturne and the Chapter the survive the invasion, Ba'ken is promoted to Captain of the 7th Company, and Fugis returns from his Burning Walk.]]

* CycleOfRevenge: In the BackStory, the 3rd Company had killed some renegades' captains; in the opening, they kill the 3rd Company's captain; shortly thereafter, the new captain goes in pursuit of them. [[spoiler:They get sidetracked by another issue, but happen on the killers, and get both the commander and the actual killer. Whereupon their captain is murdered after the battle.]]

* TooKinkyToTorture: The Salamanders' arch-enemies, the Dark Eldar, owing to the latter being obsessed with the experience of sensation of any kind. On the other hand, locking them up and depriving them of ''any'' sensation is a highly effective means of torture/coercion. [[spoiler:Vulkan He'stan uses the threat of that to blackmail a Dark Eldar Haemonculus to reopen a Webway portal. He repays the Dark Eldar by shooting him in the head (as a Haemonculus, he can regrow himself from a finger he cut off for that purpose).]]

* [[ApocalypseMaiden Apocalypse Astarte]]

* {{Bishonen}}: [[spoiler: Chaplain Elysius]], much to everyone's surprise. He is, in fact, ''so'' pretty that he ends up getting his own personal StalkerWithACrush in the form of a Dark Eldar Wych.
* BittersweetEnding both short story and novel end with [[spoiler: the captain dying. This is two different captains by the way. Also Dak'ir is hauled off to become a librarian and stripped of his rank]]
** Also Nocturne: [[spoiler: Dak'ir, Tsu'gan, and Emek are dead, and Nihilan managed to escape with a copy of the Tome of Fire that details resurrection in the hopes or raising Ushorak, but Nocturne and the Chapter the survive the invasion, Ba'ken is promoted to Captain of the 7th Company, and Fugis returns from his Burning Walk.]]

* InTheBack [[spoiler: Iagon pulls this off in both books; first killing N'keln and then betraying his brothers in the Razored Vale]]

* TooKinkyToTorture: The Salamanders' arch-enemies, the Dark Eldar, owing to the latter being obsessed with the experience of sensation of any kind. On the other hand, locking them up and depriving them of ''any'' sensation is a highly effective means of torture/coercion. [[spoiler: Vulkan He'stan uses the threat of that to blackmail a Dark Eldar Haemonculus to reopen a Webway portal. He repays the Dark Eldar by shooting him in the head (as a Haemonculus, he can regrow himself from a finger he cut off for that purpose).]]

* KillItWithFire: Their army special rule makes all flamer and melta (except flame storm cannon) weapons twin-linked.

* ScaryBlackMan: Only in the 3rd edition. Prior to that, they were fairly similar to their current incarnation, with white or red/orange hair, red eyes, and dark grey skin. As they are currently onyx-skinned, subterranean-dwelling smiths with glowing red eyes, flowing white hair (occasionaly) and a connection to "drakes", they come across as being something more like benign, oversized Drow (and by extension, the dark elves of [[NorseMythology Scandinavian folklore]] that inspired them) than anything covered by the trope.

* WhamLine: A series of them, which basically sum up that [[spoiler: Vulkan He'stan believes that Dak'ir is the Unbound Flame, one of the Nine Artefacts of Vulkan. He changes his opinion later, but it leaves the members of the Pantheon Council speechless.]]
** The Horus Hersey reveals that [[spoiler: The Unbound Flame is Vulkan's coffin]]