Dorsal Dragons are so named because they have large fins along their backs that can be raised and lowered at will. They use these fins to regulate body temperature; they raise them to cool off when they become overheated. The bright colors on the fins double as a means of attracting mates.

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.

In a place ringed by dark forests there are dark hills, and on one of these a dark house resides. Some remember a time when it was occupied by rich lords, who had taken a little dragon as their pet. But things had gone badly.

One by one the members of the household had met freak deaths, violent, terrible deaths, and as the family dwindled the dragon grew. And then finally only the dragon was left.

He is intelligent, and possessed of a mocking sadism; if no one comes near (and no one ever does) he goes out and fetches someone. And they don't come back.

But the creature wasn't content with such simple murders, and lately disappeared into the thick woods on the outskirts of the realm, woods once said to house a lab as twisted as the dragon himself is.

What he's searching for there, no one knows, and no one wants to know.