Black Dragons are warriors. They are strong and capable in battles of force, but also ample magic users, capable of devastating opponents with their spells. Their bright eyes give them excellent night vision, which is why they generally hunt during the night.

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.

Matthaeus is a friendly librarian, as friendly as a stern and battle-scarred black dragon can be, anyway. He joined the humans out of a love for reading and boredom with his old clan. He's since become the head of circulation because he outlived all of the humans who were there before him. He doesn't care who comes in and borrows materials as long as they follow the rules and are careful, and he's excellent at keeping track of books that have gone out. Since Matthaeus became head, he has enacted some new rules that concern library property. Most importantly, he felt the policy regarding lost or damaged items was too lenient. Now, if the patron doesn't pay for or replace something within a certain window of time, rather than issue more fines, Matthaeus will hunt them down and eat them. Since a dragon runs the library, its new rules are literally draconian, but the humans at city hall who do "government things" don't mind, since less tax money than ever before is spent replacing things.