Misfit Pygmies are brightly-colored dragons who love to make life miserable for other creatures. When several Misfits group together, it is certain that there is mischief afoot. They do everything they can to tease, causing general mayhem for all. Misfit Dragons will steal food from beneath other dragons’ noses both for fun, and to fill their bellies. While they are known for their tricks and pranks, they have a rarely-displayed sweet side and will search out little treasures to present to their chosen mate.

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.

Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.

When exploring in the wilderness, Haninz found himself in a strange pocket of demi-reality wherein time and space don't exist the way they do outside. This, he learned from a pink dragon named Murtaugh, was supposedly caused by the mixing of two wild springs of mana—one dark-aligned and the other time-aligned. The place is known as the Submachines.

Haninz hates the lack of time and the tendency of places to 'revert' to a single point in time when no-one is present, thus unmaking his prank-traps. One time, in a fit of rage at his efforts' futility, he damaged an artifact enchanted to cause phrases written on one parchment to appear on another somewhere else within the Submachines. This change became a permanent feature on Murtaugh's lab; Mur promptly forbade Haninz from entering the region again. Haninz now tags along with Elizabeth's following, looking for opportunities to prank. Usually Vavinyn suffers the worst of it.