Vulcan

Vulcan is a Fire elemental who takes on the form of a giant maned wolf. He measures at exactly 7'0"/213.36cm at the shoulders but can change sizes at will. He has vibrant orange eyes, tall ears, and an extremely fluffy tail. His fur is primarily light brown with a tan underbelly, light golden stripes, and a dark brown back, stripes, and sock markings; the stripes extend down over his legs and over most of his neck and face. As a Fire elemental, his body is actually made entirely of flames. His fur often emits small flecks of embers or even streams of fire from underneath. He can actively control them to prevent random wildfires, so they're not particularly dangerous.

Despite being a walking fireball, the fur helps create a barrier between his real body and any curious hands. With fur, he doesn't burn to the touch immediately, but he will feel very warm (similar to a hot water bottle or heated blanket.) However, prolonged exposure will result in light burns.

The streams of fire that his fur emits are a good indicator of his health and mood. When energetic and happy, his body emits a constant stream of flames. When sick or upset, his flames tend to die out. In rare cases, even his fur will turn dull. He has to constantly consume fuel in order to sustain his larger form and will shrink if he doesn't eat enough. Because of this, he is constantly "hungry." He doesn't exactly die if he doesn't sustain his larger form, but he will become small and vulnerable.

When angered, his fur peels and burns away to reveal an angry burning core within. In this form, everything he touches will light on fire. He becomes incredibly difficult to stop, even with water; his body reaches temperatures so high that water evaporates before it makes contact. After he's done setting fire to everything and calms back down, he simply regenerates new fur again and rather quickly, too.

Vulcan does not wear any accessories. They would burn off every single time.

As a Fire elemental, Vulcan is capable of using powerful Fire spells. It would only take him a minute or two to set an entire forest or town ablaze if he felt like it.

He is also "shapeless" and has the ability to shapeshift into various forms and sizes as he wishes, but he often remains as a maned wolf and nothing else.

• Vulcan can breathe fire and cast very powerful Fire spells.
• His spells range from fire tornadoes to walls of flames.
• One of his main attacks is a flaming wheel.
• When cast, his spells last indefinitely as long as he's in range and continues to fuel them.

• Vulcan can shapeshift into other forms.
• He changes size between a small, standard maned wolf or his more common massive form.

• Vulcan is immune to being burned by all sources.
• He is literally made of fire.

• Vulcan can regenerate through consuming fuel for his flames.

Vulcan is a cheeky and mischievous fire elemental who is often described as a giant hyperactive puppy by the Xalkrians. He cackles like a hyena, and he's rarely serious at all. Most of his words are said purely in jest, in order to worry and scare people. Once someone gets to know him, they'll find it difficult to find him serious at all. He enjoys messing with lesser creatures by playing light (and mostly harmless) pranks on them. After a few pranks went too far, he's learned to hold back and not do anything too risky and mean. One of his favorite things to do is light tails on fire, especially long and fluffy ones, but, don't worry, he promises to put out all his fires properly! The worst thing that could happen are a few bald spots here or there.
He can still be considerate and will spare anxious, young, weak, and injured creatures from his tricks. He doesn't want to make things worse for them. This doesn't spare everyone else, though.

Vulcan enjoys a good amount of laughter, fun, and games with others, and, with his seemingly infinite energy, it takes a lot to keep him occupied. He is easily bored and frustrated; he hates repetitive tasks and refuses to stay in one place. He's constantly hopping between activities around the temple or trying out his strange experiments. If someone bores him, he'll completely ignore them or even go on without them. He even makes it pretty clear when someone is being boring: he'll roll around and whine about it. It's a good method for those who don't want to be pranked - ignore him enough times, and he'll leave you alone.

He likes to do things "because he can" and often cannot answer "why" he did it. He tends to let his curiosity take control, which leads him into doing experiments that one would logically not do. "What happens if we set this frisbee on fire and throw it?" Let's find out! What could possibly go wrong?
Because of this, he frequently lands himself in trouble, but he has somehow managed to survive all these years without getting completely extinguished or sealed away for his shenanigans.

Despite all his tendencies to play pranks and deliver mini heart attacks, Vulcan is very reliable and loyal towards his friends. Even with all his fooling around, he will always see his given tasks to the end. He takes oaths and promises very seriously. To him, a promise is a promise. Don't break it. If you do, this fire elemental isn't going to be very happy.
The downside is that he hasn't quite learned to pace himself yet. He may or may not rush a job if he gets too impatient, and he's not the type to stand around and wait. If everybody else is being slow, he's likely to go ahead on his own. Any form of "slow" is too slow for Vulcan.

Vulcan's loyalty resides purely in his friends and nobody else. He is a loyal dog towards Orion and the Xalkrians and would do anything for them. Since he doesn't worship the celestial god, Xalkrios, he considers himself simply an ally and not a follower. He only joined up to help his friends out and frequently hangs out around the temple. If someone wants to mess with the Xalkrians, they'd have to get through Vulcan first.
He can never be bribed to follow anyone else, not even with all the food he can eat or the promise of infinite power. In fact, he's more likely to get upset if someone tries to bribe him in the first place.

When he's not at the Temple of Xalkrios, he's off doing cleaning duty at Zebbie's Forever and Everglades. He uses his flames to cleanse all the dying and old overgrowth in the forest to allow room for new plants to grow. Zebbie herself is unable to clean up the thick overgrowth that she creates in her wake, so, in a way, they balance each other out. Vulcan serves an important role in the glade's ecosystem, as the local areas would become heavily overrun with plant life and eventually turn into a wasteland without him.
Even if he knows the importance of his role, however, Vulcan doesn't plan to act the part and still continues to play tricks on Zebbie's children with every visit.

When Vulcan gets angry, he gets very angry! He turns into a destructive fireball and is capable of razing things to the ground in mere minutes. It becomes difficult to calm him down once he's started. The only other choice is to let him go and vent out his frustration - either on some empty fields or the person that ticked him off. There is no saving someone from his wrath once they've crossed that line. This is only made worse by the fact that he tends to throw things out of proportion when upset.
It is an extremely bad idea to pick on and hurt any of his friends.

Vulcan has claustrophobia (the fear of small spaces) and thalassaphobia (the fear of the deep). He doesn't like feeling trapped or cornered and avoids small spaces, and he has a distinct fear of aquatic dwellers, especially water elementals. As a fire elemental, Vulcan hates getting wet. It extinguishes his fur and makes him sick. He will never be seen setting foot near the ocean or massive lakes.
During winter, he slows down and becomes less active. He'll hide away in a place of his choice - the temple, the glades, or his own secret grove. He also runs and hides during thunderstorms.

His favorite food is BBQ and all forms of spice - the spicier, the better!
He also enjoys eating flammable things, such as charcoal, wood, and candles, on the side.

Unlike other large elementals, Vulcan doesn't have any territory to protect. Instead, he spends a lot of his time wandering around and following some of his friends. He can often be found wandering between the roads from the Temple of Xalkrios to the Forever and Everglades.

On some days, he can be found hanging out around the temple or the glade. If he isn't at either location, he is out exploring and can be difficult to find.

He has his own little hidden grove of chili plants that he takes care of. They were a gift from Zebbie. The location is kept a secret.

When Vulcan was a newly born elemental, he was effectively a supercharged fire elemental with very little control over his powers. Every time he'd get excited or upset, he'd cause everything around him to burst into flames. Nobody could handle the accidental forest and building fires that he'd cause. While he was eager to please his master, his master no longer wanted to deal with him. His original master deemed him too "wild" to be a proper magical companion and handed him off to another mage. Vulcan ended up exchanging several masters down the line, which broke his young heart. Eventually, he wound up with a master who sealed him into a cage, out of fear that he'd set the library on fire again. It worked for a time, until Vulcan figured out how to pickpocket the key and unlock the cage. After he escaped, Vulcan decided he'd never have another master again and went on to live by himself.

Years passed, and he eventually met a nature elemental named Zebbie. The two of them traveled together for a very long time, until Zebbie settled down and formed her Forever and Everglades. Vulcan ended up moving on without her, but he still promised to visit. His next several years were spent wandering the lands and exploring the new ruins that formed with the slow destruction of the old lands and civilization. He settled down in a secret grove where he'd keep all his treasures and his garden.

One day, after following a powerful source of magic, Vulcan stumbled across the leader of the Xalkrians, Orion, who tried to tell him about Xalkrios, the Beacon of Rebirth. He thought that Orion was weird at first, but he decided to follow the demigod around anyways. Eventually, he found himself hanging out more and more at the Temple of Xalkrios, and it soon became like a secondary home to him.