Common Pygmies are sweet in temperament and palate. They spend a fair amount of time foraging for and scavenging food but have a particular fondness for sweet tasting treats, such as honey. When pickings are slim, they can hunt songbirds and small mammals. Common Pygmies stay in large groups, migrating alongside their food supply. Although capable of the same basic vocal sounds of most other dragons, Common Pygmies prefer to communicate through body language. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Common Pygmy hatchlings are rather affectionate.

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.

Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.

While many Pygmy dragons are hired throughout Altea as personal assistants, Marlana is instead a member of the Altean army. Her left wing grew with defects so great, the limb was amputated at the elbow, thus stripping her of her ability to fly. Or at least, by herself. While Greater Spotted Drakes are typically used as workhorses both on and off the battlefield, Marlana owns one female called Valizel, who grants her flight in another way. Marlana rides Valizel, three gloved paws used to hang on while the left one is free to hold objects. Though Valizel has reins, most commands are given to her via telepathy, with the reins used as a last resort.

Marlana fights for Altea, despite her minute size. While she never takes the front lines, she hangs behind and around the edges, darting with poise and speed, her pearly, pink cape and Valizel's barding a shining symbol of warning to the enemy, her needle-thin rapier poking under scales and leaving behind traces of a wicked poison.