Water Walkers are small dragons that are frequently found around bogs and ponds. While they are flightless, they retain the flight sacs and hollow bones of their airborne cousins. These traits, coupled with their extraordinarily long, webbed toes, allow them to stand on top of calm waters, using their small sails to propel them wherever they please. They spend the majority of their lives on the water, retreating to the tops of lily pads when the waters become too rough to float atop.

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.

Nylu is a linguist, studying homophones and in particular, the word "uh". She has traveled far and wide in pursuit of phonemes, gliding up and down rivers and hitching rides between waterways. Most others consider 'uh' to be a silly topic of study because it isn't a word an author or script-maker should use in eloquent communication, but the everyday nature of the expression of confusion is exactly what draws Nylu to it. She has even been known to walk on land to seek out interesting languages, although the shoes she wears to protect her delicate toe-membranes make her feel like a dino.