Royal Crimson Dragons are so named due to their massive size and confident, regal bearing. Most of the time they are laid back, ignoring non-prey creatures smaller than themselves, although they will occasionally take fresh kills from other dragons as a reminder of their place in the social order. Although there are few other dragons large enough to pose a threat to Royal Crimsons, they have little tolerance for potential rivals and will fiercely defend their territory from such intruders.

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.

Feral Scale is an elderly dragon that has spent much of his life defending the cave due to his territorial nature. Because of his regal appearance and over-bearing personality, he has always been ranked highly among the dragons in the cave and has had many females try to seduce him, desiring to have his children. However, Feral Scale has always been weary about only selecting the best females to breed with. His standards were too high, and he never mated for a very long time.

After he resigned his position as a guard and started training a new guard to take his place, the guard spoke of his father, a Sunstone dragon named Sun Devil that believed controlled inbreeding was a way to protect genes in future generations. Feral Scale was quick to adopt that logic and has become a part of the breeding group that controls inbreeding and has thus taken three carefully selected mates to bear his children so that he can work in partnership with Sun Devil to produce a child with perfect genes.