Dragons are creatures with nearly unlimited life spans. They can survive for long periods of time, and no one has found a dragon that has died of old age. Adolescence 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. Once they hit adolescence, hatchlings change quickly, maturing to their full forms in only 2 years.

Dragons don’t communicate with each other verbally, but they will growl to scare off predators and frighten prey. Young dragons will emit an extremely high-pitched squeal when they are frightened. To communicate, they use telepathy with each other and to speak to other creatures.

Once upon a time, there was a fine lady named Lorimmel. Now, this does not mean that she spent her days listening to classical music and embroidering tapestries. Oh, no. In fact, Lorimmel spent her days blasting metal through the corridors and in the gardens, where she would spend hour after hour arranging baubles and tinsel on various long-suffering pine trees. One fine winter, there was a decorating contest in the town, and at last her endless practice was rewarded.

Her "reward" was less than pleased with the arrangement. Gold Epica, a beautiful and proud dragon created by magical convocation to be the first of her kind, who had fully expected to live in a luxurious palace, or at least manor, got her wish - but somehow, bon bons and hours of daily massage delivered by an army of personal servants is less satisfying when the decor is distinctly baroque and one's human master is perpetually tracking in dirt.