Swallowtail Dragons are graceful and quick flyers, much like their namesake bird. They are capable of precise aerial acrobatics, and can reach very high altitudes. Because of this, humans observing these dragons are often astonished at how large they are when confronted up close. A Swallowtail’s diet consists of insects and small mammals plentiful in temperate forests. These dragons are also made remarkable by their paper-thin wing membranes, which allow light to pass through, creating an astonishing effect on starry nights.

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.

Ebony lives directly at Delirium's Academy guarding the gates high up between the towers. Those gates can lead to different places or different worlds and during the right conjunction of stars even to other times. Ebony was chosen as the guard because she is the quickest and most agile dragon of all the clan and therefore has the best chances to escape a potential invader and survive long enough to warn off the faculty members. She is very proud of her job and the responsibilities and her relation to Ivory—the other resident Swallowtail at the academy—is strained.