Albino Dragons are so named because their translucent, scale-less skin lacks all pigment. Instead, to help protect their bodies from the sun, they are coated in an oily secretion that blocks the sun’s harmful rays. The call of an albino dragon is similar to a barn owl--a shriek instead of a roar.

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.

Though he is young relative to many of his cave's residents, Schleier (full name's translation: "veil of ignorance") behaves like an elder who has seen many millennia pass—and is respected as though he were just that. He arbitrates disputes fairly and coolly, giving the impression that, if one squinted hard enough, one could make out the scales of justice beneath the translucent skin of his forehead. When asked how he maintains such balance, his red eyes glimmer. "I could have been any of you," he says. "And because I know that so well, I am myself."