Gold dragons are the ones most often killed by humans, who consider their scales to be extremely valuable. These golden scales grant them a high level of protection, similar to armor, and they use this to their advantage in battle.

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.

Phineas J. is a rather weird dragon. He often looks at the other Gold dragons in his clan and their many, many, many hatchlings with a slight disdain. And the Silvers aren't really better, they breed like "common rabbits". It doesn't even seem to be the sheer amount of offspring he takes offense at but rather the fact that those little ones, more often than not, share their parents' shiny scales.

Phin mumbles about "dominant" and "recessive" genes, and "ratios" and then returns to his own mate and their perfectly normal wyvern offspring. Not a shiny scale in sight that could upset Phin's delicate sense of what's natural and what's not.