Turpentine Dragons are named for the oil that covers their scales. This oil resembles turpentine in odor and is mildly toxic; it will not kill but it burns to the touch and will cause illness in anyone who ingests it. Turpentine Dragons roam in large packs, often stealing food from larger dragons, though they are able to hunt for themselves if necessary. Many other breeds consider Turpentine Dragons to be pests, so they primarily breed among themselves.

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.

Whirling Desert Sands is a turpentine dragon. Not very social, he is rarely seen around his clan's camp, preferring to spend night after night, week after week in the lonely stretches of desert in the southwestern part of his clan's territory. He used to be one of his clan's snatchers, whose job is to teleport to the main cave in all of dragcave and quickly grab rare eggs from the large pile. He was one of the best out of them all, but he resigned after he had stolen a rare egg and got into a huge fight with an arrogant gold dragon that claimed the egg was his, despite the fact that Whirling Desert Sands had gotten it almost five seconds before the gold dragon. The result was a large fight in which he broke his hind leg when the gold dragon savagely ripped it trying to get at the magma egg the turpentine snatcher was carrying.