Kthorlaq, known as Kthorlaq the Deliverer, was the oldest hatchling, born to the Fire Clan, in a clutch of precious royal eggs. Kthorlaq is technically not a god, but the "original" Salamander Ancient
Biography
The casing of the egg which bore her was larger, paler and smoother than the others and would have stood out just for these differences; but was the dark red swirling pattern that writhed down one side of the shell that had the clutch-mothers both excited and terrified in equal measure.
It was a sign they said. An omen. This one would be different. Unsurprisingly, she was the largest of her clutch when born, and she grew at an astonishing rate. Within a handful of cycles of the moon, she was showing intelligence and perception way beyond expectations, and within a few years her tutors had nothing more to teach her.
Before she reached full physical maturity, Kthorlaq was dispensing wisdom to the Elders of the city, and Elders from other cities and Salamander Clans flocked to see her and to hear her speak on many matters great and small. The power of the Fire Clan grew beyond even what it had enjoyed before, and the city prospered and became the natural capital of the reptilian people
Her everyday predictions were eerily accurate, and this concerned them because of the largest prophecy that Kthorlaq had recited since she was very young—that the Clans would all be reborn in the shadows of the three kings of fire.
Kthorlaq took leadership of the Fire Clan within months of reaching maturity and led the clan through the coming of Winter and various evil forces that were conjured by the Wicked Ones. This slowly drove the other great clans from their home cities.
Winter's War
Kthorlaq, seeing that her people could not defeat the advance of the ice, issued a decree that all Salamander Clans should abandon the great cities and surrounding lands and flee to the west.
Many warriors chose to defy her order, instead remaining to buy their fleeing kin as much additional time as possible. At the gates of the great Temple City of Haelthorn on the very western edge of their lands, fourteen cohorts of these warriors from cities that had fallen to the onslaught rallied together to make a final stand against the advancing forces of Winter.
Even though they knew of their defeat, the reptilians never theless stood and fought, determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible in defence of their people and their leader. The Battle of Haelthorn fought there was a titanic one, thousands of reptilians standing shoulder to shoulder to receive a charge which had buckled and trampled whole legions of other races.
The brave sacrifice of the cohorts had bought valuable time for Kthorlaq and her people. What happened next is unclear, as the histories of the reptilians are threaded through with legend and myth, passed on in an oral tradition which stretches back to the dawn of their people
Driven to the very precipice of total exhaustion, simply used her remaining strength to cast one final spell, giving up her life through over-exertion to save her people. As the reptilians have it, Kthorlaq finally fulfilled the destiny she had always been marked for, the strange markings on her hide glowing brilliant white, and the mighty queen then disappearing with a thunderclap, becoming an all-encompassing magical shield around the three peaks that protected her people and spoke to them long after she had gone. She gave her life to the Three Kings to ensure her clans new homeland was protected by a magical shield.
The Salamanders, naturally drawn to the thermal vents atop the mountains whence the smoke issued, bore the main brunt of this feedback. The changes wrought on their bodies were terrifying but powerful—their bodies wracked with spasms, they were afflicted with a deep cold which could never truly be warmed, causing them to need greater and greater heat to stop the icy chill of Winter from stilling their hearts. Some say that the collision of the two magical energies was a final conflict between Kthorlaq and Winter, one that continues to this day in the veins of every Salamander, fought in their blood.
Trivia
- In the Salamander Armada, there is a ship named after her called Kthorlaq's Shield
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