Guardian Dragons have large shields on the end of their tails. Although the shields appear to be heavy, they are light, yet nearly unbreakable. Guardian Dragons use their tail-shields, as well as their wings, to deflect attacks and protect others. Often, they will guard the eggs and hatchlings of a nest while others are away. They are generally peaceful, and will not retaliate unless necessary. They have no need to forage or hunt, as they are fed by those they protect.

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.

Early one morning Maduinn, a shy Guardian hatchling, came to drink from and take a bath in the loch near his home. He climbed a rocky outcrop, jumped off it to plunge into the water and hit something too hard to be water but too soft to be rocks. Soon he discovered he had landed on a dragon hatchling, but one unlike any he'd seen before. She had no wings, but was long and slender built. One look into those eyes deep as oceans and he had fallen madly in love with Sherynn, the Water dragon.

His home is high in the mountain, whilst she cannot leave the loch. Every morning at first daylight he comes down to meet her, only returning when the fading light and rising moon call him to his home and shelter, his clan's cave. Wintertime is hard for him; sometimes the surface of the loch freezes and he cannot reach his true love. But when spring arrives they meet once more, swimming together. Their fate is always to be divided between land and water.