Copper Dragons are masters of stealth, slipping silently and swiftly through the forests and jungles where they live. Often hunting in groups, their prey rarely know they are being stalked until the dragon’s at their throat. In the air they are agile and skilled. Copper Dragons prize family groups, spending large amounts of time teaching their young skills. So great is their love of life and family that they will sometimes adopt orphaned dragons of other breeds to raise.

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.

Clarisse Clausen can do it all. She hunts her own food for starters, and gives free medical care to those who catch her between jobs. Clarisse adds to the knowledge of the world through her many nightly experiments and shares it with her neighbors in Wayside Haven or teaches it to the hatchlings. Additionally, she travels far as Dark Grizzle's herald, all the while having the time to advise foreign scientists. Secretly though, she deems them all unfit, accumulating several well-written journals ripping apart their theories. Often she feels her rage build at their inability to see the big picture or correctly account for all the facts. One day she returned to her home to find Lily Teatime waiting for her, one of Clarisse's scathing journals in hand. Calmly, Lily  asked if Clarisse wanted to be an assassin and vent her rage in a way that was more profitable. Just as Clarisse was about to say no, she realized that this meant she really could do it all and agreed.