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.

Gold dragons are the ones most often killed by humans, who consider their scales to be extremely valuable. These golden scales grant them a high level of protection, similar to armor, and they use this to their advantage in battle.

Watched over anxiously by Alaunus as a hatchling, Vanna grew into a beautiful female. The loss of the young skywing, stolen by another lair's storm dragon while she was a mere hatchling has made her a watchful adult, and while she is happy to give a quiet word of encouragement to any dragon, she watches the lair carefully, as protective of her dragons as the white once was of her. Second in strength only to their lair king, in grace and strategy she knows best, and often wins fights simply by letting others tire. Briefly, she was enamored with Arron, and produced two children for him. But first in her heart is Alaunus, the cheerful white who has been there for her since she was a child, and she is wary of manipulative Fatin, Silvius and Alaunus both having warned her since she was a hatchling. But the magi almost ignores her for the new young dragons, and Vanna is glad of the free reign she is given, taking patrols at dawn and dusk in case another like that gray would come again.