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.

Seasonal dragons take on the characteristics of the season during which they are born. Thus, eggs that are laid in spring match the pink flowers and green buds of spring, and those that are laid in the summer grow to depict the bright green of the forest trees and the yellow of the sun. Eggs laid in autumn display the bright colors of leaves falling from trees, and those that are laid during winter take on the appearance of the icy snow.

Subluarpok Tla's name means "snow which blows in the wind," though in truth he feels very little wind in his underground home. So much does the winter dragon despise all heat that he has retreated deep underground, far from the light and warmth of the surface. There in his chilly home he survives only on the tiny, sightless fish that live in the freezing water of his subterranean lake, which has left him almost sickly thin. His eyes no longer able to tolerate light, he surfaces only on the coldest and darkest of winter nights when he feasts on whatever animals he can catch. The humans near his home call him a demon, and fill their villages with brightly burning torches on winter nights, hoping the light and heat will ward off the Snow Which Blows With the Bitter Wind.