Pumpkin Dragons are a very small breed, named after their affinity for pumpkins. They are always found living inside hollowed-out pumpkins, and are only seen during the harvest season. Young children often hollow out and decorate their pumpkins in the hope that a Pumpkin Dragon will make it his or her home.

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.

Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.

After their mother vanished and their father had an unfortunate encounter with a speeding cart, four young pumpkin hatchlings were left to fend for themselves. Skeln, the most adventurous, grumbled a little at the loss of freedom after the four were brought to the Royal Menagerie. True, he and the others were only a seasonal exhibit and could do what they pleased the rest of the year, but he craved more excitement. Before, he'd had narrow escapes from falcons, foxes, and farmers, but almost nothing in the Royal Menagerie would do more than growl at him, even the dinosaur. Dark green dragons would snap at him if he flew overhead, but they were easily dodged. With nothing else to do, he became a troublemaker, stirring up the frilled dragon hatchlings and encouraging the morphodrakes to get into mischief, until Atrilo finally got him to see sense.