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.

One would think being the most rare (and heavy) of all dragons would give O a bit of confidence. However, the story of O is that of a submissive dragon who obeys the arbitrary orders of the other dragons in the clan with surprising subservience. She is so conditioned to follow directions that if strong-looking humans asked her for her scales, which have magical properties, she would gladly give them all up. Thus, the rest of the clan carefully hide her in the back of their cave and secretly give O their own orders.