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.

When Water dragons mature, they lose the ability to survive on land, entering the water permanently. They are adept swimmers and eat whatever fish are in the lake they live in. They tend to inhabit the same lake for their entire lives, although a few live in the ocean and swim all over the world.

Nicephorus was only a hatchling when the ruins of Drekanos were assaulted by the remnants of its human rulers. He remembers little of it, only his panic and terror as rough human hands grabbed at him, nets entangling his body and dragging him out of the water onto cruel ground as he flailed and twisted in desperation. And he remembers his mother's arrival, and her slaughter of those who would attempt to enslave her child as they had her. As both the child of Vasacius and the first hatchling to be born into the freed city, Nicephorus has been indulged, petted, and protected by the adult dragons all his life. Lacking his mothers explorative spirit he makes his lair in the harbour that once imprisoned her, the sea bed of which his father has twisted into fantastical shapes for him. A pod of dolphins can often be found swimming with him and he delights in listening to their fanciful tales. Sometimes they make him long wistfully for adventure.