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.

FOsa loves lemurs. The other turpentines think he is crazy, scrambling up trees with his oily paws in order to hunt the arboreal primates, but he doesn't care. In order to have a healthy lemur population he can hunt he needs there to be enough forests to support them, which means FOsa often encourages his pack to harass the humans who are trying to cut down the lemurs' trees for their own silly, human reasons. He is much more successful hunting humans than hunting lemurs, as the former species lives on the ground and turpentine dragons do far better in the open places the humans make for themselves than the assorted forests lemurs prefer. FOsa wishes he didn't have to keep forcing humans away from the woods, so he could have the time to perfect his lemur-hunting technique and then his peers wouldn't tease him so much.