Vampire Dragons are members of the undead. They sustain themselves by drinking the blood of others. It is said that they are only “alive” at night, and seem dead or asleep during the day, as they cannot endure sunlight for long periods of time. Vampire Dragons can only reproduce by changing the eggs of other dragons, puncturing the shell with their fangs and injecting venom that kills the baby inside.

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.

Russet is the second successful bite of his dame, Rise of the Creme Phoenix. He has more discerning tastes than his mother when it comes to eggs. He prefers not to bite lineage eggs because he thinks they taste funny. Of the eggs he does bite, he only keeps a select few. These children he guards jealously, indoctrinating them into his beliefs that vampire dragons are the superior beings, and those vampires with lineage have undesirable ties that prevent them from fully participating in his dream of world conquest. He is labeled by the other vampires in the cave as 'neurotic, but dangerous' and they only cross him in extreme circumstances.

He likes to wander around after dark and talk to himself about the glories of conquest, but even he has fears. Russet Phoenix is morbidly terrified of zombies. It comes from a childhood encounter with the local zombie who kissed him when he was a hatchling. One zombie-like groan will send him running back to the cave with his tail between his legs.