Fire Elemental

A.K.A Fires

There's no worse place to be than on the wrong end of a rushed Fire's sword. There's no better place to be than in a Fire's arms on a freezing night. Chose where you want to end up, and use your words accordingly, or they'll start drawing their weapons.

— Dr. Raven Jen

Wild and dangerous, just like the combustion reaction they take their name from; Fires are hardly Elementals to be trifled with. They have an extensive history of being violent, masters of the chaos of war, and seductive romantics. With every Fire comes a blaze of chaos and passion, and whether that passion takes the form of anger or love depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Anatomy

Life stages

Like all Elementals, Fires grow up twice as fast as humans, and remain in their prime for the rest of their life. Fires tell the age of other fully grown Fires using their body language (explained further down) as they do not show human signs of aging. Fires are considered adults by 10 years of age, which is equivalent to 20 years old in humans. Pregnancy in Fires like all Elementals lasts for 6 months before birth. Fires name their life states as shown below:
Infant (0-6 months old) – Toddler (6 months - 18 months old) - Toothless (1.5 years old - 5 years old) – Pup (5 years old - 7 years old) – Juvenile (7 years old - 10 years old) – Adult (10 years old - 80 years old)
While toothless may seem an odd term, Firen children do not grow in their adult canines until after their awakening ceremony at five years of age.

Physique

Given their constant need to be fighting, whether that be on the battlefield or sparing, Fires are usually trim and fit. They do not build up bulky muscle mass, giving them a lean physique with an increase in muscle density rather than volume. Their high metabolism almost guarantees that they'll never gain enough weight to be overweight, and a much larger concern for Fires is being underweight.

Temperature

While perhaps not a thing of note for most species, Fires are about as hot as their name would imply. In the temperature sense, at least. At rest, a Fire's internal body temperature is 41.6 °C. When not at rest, this internal temperature can rise with no harm to the Firen body due to the integration of Firen magic with every fibre of their being. They lack sweat glands due to their immunity to heat. While they do have control over this temperature, and even more for their external temperature, chaotic or passionate environments loosen this control.
Fires do not feel temperature the way that the average human would. They have no pain receptors associated with heat. Higher temperatures are mostly associated with a relaxed response from Fires, likely linked to the fact that the higher the temperature, the less danger they're in from non-Firen threats. They find a much higher ambient temperature to be comfortable, and even higher still for actions where even humans generally enjoy more heat, a shower for example. Given how much heat radiates away from Fires as they constantly produce it, they do not like the cold, and even human room temperature is enough to justify wearing a sweater.

Teeth

Like all Elemental teeth, Firen teeth are reinforced with Gold, allowing them to bite and cut through other Elementals. Firen teeth perform exceptionally better at this task as they have long canine teeth. These canine teeth work as canine teeth often do in animals, aiding in tearing meat or holding onto things. Fires do indeed use these teeth as weapons along with the rest of their sharp but less pointy teeth. Combined with their very wide jaw opening as allowed with Firen magic, and Fires can easily fit their teeth around a neck.

Sex differences

Between male and female Fires, there are limited differences. Muscle development is relatively equal, given the lack of volume increase for Firen muscle. Proportionally, Firen canine growth is the same. The most difference is in hair growth. Both sexes of Fires develop terminal hair on their scalp, the pubic region and have eyebrows and eyelashes. The rest of the body is covered in vellus hair, which is hardly noticeable. To most, Fires would appear much less hairy overall than humans. In male Fires, the terminal hair on the scalp grows to a much shorter length when compared to Firen females. Males have less terminal hair density overall. Female Fires have very long hair growth on their scalps. Hair length for females generally goes down their back, occasionally reaching their feet. For males, scalp hair does not grow past being considered "medium length". All Firen hair is fully grown at any time, and therefore cannot be trimmed without it growing back very quickly. It should be noted that male Fires do not develop any "facial hair" or terminal hairs on the face.

Sense of Smell

Fires have a relatively stronger sense of smell than humans. They can smell more of a scent from a further distance, which is useful in hunting. Fires are also heavily affected by the scent of blood, and even more so by the scent of blood from Ice Elementals, see below under "Special physical characteristics".

Eyes and Vision

Probably the first physical characteristic that differs Fires from humans is their glowing eyes. Unlike animals that have reflective eyes and only reflect light out from their eyes, Firen eyes glow with their own light. The intensity differs with the surrounding light, but these glowing eyes allow the Fires near perfect vision in any light. Even in complete darkness. Most Fires would have trouble grasping onto the idea of pitch dark, as the only dark Fires really know is that of shadows they aren't focusing on.
Fire eyes lack the ability to cry, mainly because they secret very little fluid to moisten the eyes. Crying in Fires is therefore limited to red eyes, sobbing and other non tear related actions.

Active Period/Circadian rhythm

As their advanced night vision would suggest, Fires are nocturnal. Evening is the equivalent of morning for Fires, midnight is lunchtime, and saying last night is their version of yesterday. Bright blue-rich light causes Fires to feel tired and signals for their body to prepare for sleep. Soft red-rich light causes Fires to be awake and alert, as does the soft light of the moon. They prefer sleeping in complete darkness, because like living in hot places, they have the highest advantage over any non-Firen attackers in darkness.

Diet

Fires retain their ability to digest both plant and animal material. They are therefore defined as omnivores. However, Fires have a strong preference for meat. Their high body temperature allows for them to eat meat raw with little issue, and their ability to control their external body temperature along with actual flames can be used to cook meat as it is being eaten. Fires do not prefer to scavenge and will show a strong preference for fresh kills. Unlike their fellow Elementals, Fires do not see humanoid shapes as "not food" and instead heavily depend on their body language to prevent cannibalism. Most are comfortable eating meat off a humanoid figure. Rushed Fires are more than comfortable, their hunting instincts prefer humans and Ice Elementals as their prey. In recent times, Ravagers also fall into this category.
Fires can go long periods without water if they have prey to eat. They are capable of subsisting on the water contained in their prey’s blood.

Special physical characteristics

Along with being the fastest healing of all the Elementals and their innate knowledge of wielding swords, Fires are unique with both their body language and their adrenaline rush. A summary of both follows.
The Firen adrenaline response is commonly referred to as "the rush". Like the human adrenaline response, the rush is a fight or flight response that prepares the body for stress. Or rather, it would be a fight or flight response if the flight part had been retained. Instead, it is best to say that the Firen body has adapted for the only response to be fight. The release of Flavenin, causes multiple changes around the Fire body. These include changing the Fire's eye colour to a bright yellow, speeding up the heart rate and the body's reaction time. Higher amounts act as an inhibitor in pain receptor nerves, meaning that rushed Fires are incapable of feeling pain. Besides healing faster, and standard stress response factors, the rush also causes a massive release of serotonin and dopamine. As such, rushed Fires don't feel like they are in danger, they feel elated. The more danger they are in, the stronger the response, and the high. A rushed Fire relies more and more on instinct. They cannot speak verbally, and exclusively use their body language to communicate with other Fires. Given how violent rushed Fires are, it should be little surprise that the scent of blood is quickly associated with being rushed and therefore high.
To continue, the body language mentioned is hardly that of a dog. While it starts simple, it quickly becomes so detailed it is hard to pick out to any non-Fire. Before finally, Firen body language becomes intertwined with Firen magic, allowing them to become telepathic. This detailed body language is hardly just for fun. In a society as aggressive and violent as the Fires, it becomes necessary to know exactly what someone's intentions and feelings are. That is to say that "pissing off the wrong Fire can get you killed" and it's best to know who is thinking of attacking. On top of this, Fires also follow and give commands with their body language, as well as synchronizing their movements, which makes them extremely well organized on a battlefield without the need for radios. This also moves into their natural dominance and submission, as well as being able to feel which relative rank another is.

Magic

Uses

Fire magic does as it sounds. That is creating and controlling flames, setting other things on Fire, melting objects and other similar actions. It is involved with most parts of Fires, especially the rush and their body language. Fire magic is also what Firen armour is formed out of, giving their armour a distinct red colour. This armour can be summoned at will and does very well against Gold weapons. It is weak at the joints. For passive effects, Fire magic allows Fires to treat lava as if it was the same density as water. Over time, enough Fires living in an environment will cause it to become incredibly arid and hot, with volcanoes magically forming.
When it is used on humans, it causes them to feel the same amount of passion Fires feel over everything, and it allows a Fire to control them using body language. These human puppets are often used as cannon fodder or to create more chaos as the human goes and acts on their desires.
Perhaps in a show of how little Fires truly care for the laws and order of the universe, Firen "tears" can bring people back from the dead. These tears are concentrated liquid fire magic, which is why they appear red and glowing. They are only shed from a Fire whose promise has been killed, leading to the promise bond that connects them to break. Instead of suffering shattered sickness immediately, Fires being to shed these tears and go into an unstoppable charge to try and find their now dead lover. If they manage to find them while their body is still around (within an hour) the tears that fall on the body will restore it and bring the person back to life. If they are unable to use their tears within this small window, then the Fire will suffer from shattered sickness like all other Elementals.
These tears don't have to be used on the Fire's promise, which creates demand for the tears among non-Fires. It shouldn't need to be said that feeling the mind destroying pain of losing a promise over and over, even if they come back to life, is literal torture.
Fires can use this magic to "encrypt" their words. When it is spoken, it sounds like the crackling and roaring of flames. To those that hear it, it feels similar to when the sun heats up the ear canal. Fire magic appears as red flames, with the scent of burning cedar or the scent of cinnamon.

Strengthened by...

Fire magic is strengthened by heat, chaos, and passion, and often produces more of these conditions the longer it is used. Passion can be a variety of things, most often love, lust, anger, and hate. Chaos is a general state of lawlessness, of fighting and giving into desires. Battlefields, romantic dinners, and orgies all contain the passion required to strengthen Fire magic. Battlefields and orgies are better served for chaos. Fire magic causes chaos and passion in those it is around, including the Fires themselves. Fires under its influence quickly drop any care for law or modesty; aside from the dominance and submission they instinctually have; and give into their desires.

Weakened by...

Earthren magic, order, and peace cancel out Fire magic. Given that Fire magic is required for Fires to live, enough Earthren magic being directed at them will kill them, and if a smaller amount is used, they will slowly suffocate. Fire magic is also generally weaker underground.

Culture Overview

Society Summary

Firen society has no expectation that emotions should be withheld, regardless of what those emotions are. Anger, love, lust, and hate are all equally shown without consequence, with anger and hate expected to be handled violently. Fires fight constantly to keep up with their cravings for the rush. Sparing and fighting are seen to be integral bonding activities between Fires. Promotions in rank are influenced heavily by the results of proper fights. A proper fight in Fire culture cannot be done by surprise, and the one being challenged must accept the conditions visible at the start of the fight. Everything except for killing is allowed in these "proper" fights. Both sparing and fights can be done either armoured or Genevievian, that is, wearing simple clothes. Being naked isn't an option in sparing or fights, as that's just foreplay in Firen culture.
Physical affection is also an important part of Firen culture. This can take the form of platonic affection, which usually presents itself as petting others on the head, nuzzling each other, or resting snuggled up to another. As well as more romantic affections, which usually involve kissing and tightly linking arms together. Sexual affections are what one would expect, along with a lot more biting and dominance and submission. It is safe to say that what Fires consider "vanilla" is more divergent than other Elemental cultures mean when they say the same thing. For Fires, polyamory is the normal expectation with relationships, though their society expects people to communicate with each other on what counts as cheating on others. Some Fires may prefer monogamy, but most are alright with opening their relationships. While the promise system might not reflect it, Fires do form multiple promise bonds, though it is rare.
Fires find that the connection through their body language and telepathy much more intimate than their connections with other Elementals. While Fires do enjoy the company of the other Elementals, and aren't usually opposed to close relations with them, it is rare that the Fire will want to leave their own culture. Instead, Elementals that are romantically involved with Fires quickly find themselves living in Firina.
The military is a very large part of Firen culture, and all Fires are required to go through basic training starting when they are nine years old and ending when they are 10. Many Fires choose to stay with the military from the point on, and most Fires will not leave it alive. With the rush, it is hardly because of cultural expectation. Any crime that would have one fired from the military would likely land them on the front lines.
To the Fires, crimes that lead to the front lines are any of the following class 1 offences: Abuse, Severe Sexual Assault, torture, and treason. Murder is considered a class 2 offence in Firen culture, and even those that are guilty of it can get a justification for their actions. The same does not exist for class 1 offences. Those close to an accused might stand with them if they believe they are innocent, but the second that the guilty verdict is handed down the accused is treated like they've died. A Fire guilty of a class one offence might as well be dead already anyway, they become unprotected by the law the second they step out of prison and onto the front lines.
Fires, at least in modern times, do not expect different things from males and females. Suggesting either is less than the other is a ticket to having your teeth smashed in.

In a Home of…

A Fires home is designed with modern architecture, and usually is one or two floors above ground. Basements in Firen homes that are intended as living spaces are rare. Their use, if a home has one, is more focused on keeping mechanical parts of the home away from the main living space. Lighting of the home can range from torches and candles to red-rich lights. Most Firen homes used electrical means of light, but using flames is still common for those living on budgets. Fires enjoy warm colours, and open spaces. Their homes reflect this and are generally designed to be comfortable on the inside rather than pretty. Fires prefer a space where they can fight, without having to worry about breaking anything. As such, Fires aren't overly attached to anything that's easily breakable. Their homes are kept warm and are well insulated. Most Fires have a Crystaltech TV in their house, along with having their multi for other tasks.

Scientific Name

Homo nativus ignis

Average Height

1.6-1.9m

Average Lifespan

40

Maximum Lifespan

80

Possible Eye Colours:

Firen Eye colours by anc789sims

Common Hair Colours:

Firen Hair Colours by anc789sims

Rare Hair Colours:

Firen Rare Eye Colours by anc789sims

Female and Male Fire by Heroforge

Rushed Fires by Heroforge