Shadow Walkers are a strange breed that possess the ability to slip between the planes of reality, becoming immaterial. This allows them to hide in the shadows, either hunting from the concealment of near invisibility or evading enemies. Though they become corporeal to mate or to eat, they spend most of the rest of their lives walking in the shadows. Shadow Walkers are wary creatures, though on dark autumn evenings when the leaves fall to swirl in the chill, rain damp air, they may be seen drifting out from the shadows.

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.

One of the two leaders of the 'ghosties' as the Shadow Walkers of the Java Tiger are called, Yurei Mononoko is the female of the pair. The rather odd nickname comes from the fact that, among the dragons, it was an ancient superstition that a Shadow Walker was born from the soul of a dragon that failed to find peace in the afterlife after its earthly end; and in times past, they were feared and treated with awe by other dragons. Nowadays, most dragons see this belief for the nonsense that it is and believe that the Shadow Walkers are an actual breed of dragon... if a mysterious one. There are a few though, including Shadows, that hold on to the old superstitions. Though Yurei is not of this group, she believes firmly in seeing fairness and justice done for all her Shadow Walkers. Among the reasons superstition claimed a soul might return as a Shadow was that some injustice or other had been done them and they returned seeking revenge... and with Yurei one could almost believe it.