Striped Dragons come in a dazzling array of colors complemented by an intricate pattern of stripes. These bright colors and patterns help attract their favorite food, insects. Because their prey is so tiny, striped dragons must spend a large portion of their day eating. The color of the offspring is usually determined by the dragon’s mate.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Frische is capricious and coy, and the other dragons of Yggijo's cavern are torn by their instinct not to trust her and their fascination with her charisma and lovely, gold-and-white skin. She is in and out of the cave at odd hours and seems to have many secrets, though all anyone "knows" about her comes only in the form of rumor. She largely keeps the company of Dornstrauch, who affectionately refers to her as "my pretty little merdragon, likely to drown me any day now."