Shimmer-scale Dragons are a very beautiful breed with small—but highly reflective—scales that shimmer and shine as the dragon moves through water. They don’t have fins or webbed feet, but their long, eel-like bodies allow them to swim quite fast. They were once rumored to carry large pearls in their claws—causing many to seek them out in search of this fabulous treasure. In reality, the “pearl” is of greater value to the dragon, for the fabled treasure is actually an egg carried by a migrating female.

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.

Shore Up has an indescribably stupid interest in living in a desert—the kind with sand, intolerable daytime heat, and, as people can't seem to stop pointing out to her, VERY LITTLE WATER. She is mostly interested in living in a desert so she can meet and flirt with moonstone dragons, and this is an obsession she had since she was shown a painting of a group of them standing against the wind. One may argue that the artist can put ANYTHING facing the wind and it'll look handsome and cool, but this does not deter Shore Up. In fact, Shore Up's father is a moonstone, and she wants all of her children to have moonstone fathers. This has baffled many dragons. They say he probably drowned or died from a cold. Shore Up has no idea how find the right desert (one with moonstones) or how not to dry up and die once there, but she assumes there are ways, especially with magic.