Split Dragons use their sharp teeth and wings to hunt large animals and rarely eat plants. They are intelligent dragons who enjoy mental challenges, preferably alone; Split Dragons are normally solitary except during mating season. When mating, many dragons come together in a group to raise their eggs and hatchlings. These groups tend to be very noisy—reminiscent of a thunderstorm—and last only until the hatchlings are capable of surviving on their own.

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.

Two-headed dragons are unique enough to deserve a separate classification from ordinary dragons. They have two necks, two brains, two mouths, but one stomach and one main body. The two heads usually work together, but there are times when they will fight each other, snapping back and forth. Their unique anatomy prevents them from breeding with single-headed dragons.

Nawala and Namereni come from a long line of confused and purebred Two-Headed Dragons. They live their lives as two separate dragons, apart from the whole sharing-a-body thing. Both of them love to hunt, even though the sharing thing gets complicated (and neither of them can do simple math to save their lives; it makes their brains hurt).

They never put much stock in learning, since one or the other would have a headache at all times. Nawala is the brighter of the two, but when she figured out that Namereni could cheat off of her just by accessing their stronger-than-normal mental link, she focused instead on hunting.

They don't see much of their family; in fact, the only memory they have of their many relatives is their great-aunt Eva (and her nippy, deranged other half, Angelina), who told them right after they hatched that "we're not good at -- ouch -- remembering who we're -- ouch -- related to."