Shimmer-scale Dragons are a very beautiful breed with small—but highly reflective—scales that shimmer and shine as the dragon moves through water. They don’t have fins or webbed feet, but their long, eel-like bodies allow them to swim quite fast. They were once rumored to carry large pearls in their claws—causing many to seek them out in search of this fabulous treasure. In reality, the “pearl” is of greater value to the dragon, for the fabled treasure is actually an egg carried by a migrating female.

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.

The Princess Diao never asked to be born of a noble house and therefore destined for a place among the shimmer scale court. Indeed, though she is proud of her gleaming hide and though she does her duties to her clan thoroughly and carefully, her real enjoyment lies elsewhere. Court gossip dares to say that she would have been quite content to live her life as a humble common dragon of the clan so long as she could indulge this one passion of hers. Her very name means, roughly translated, 'Royal Huntress' and, indeed she comes from a long line of noble shimmer-scales with a love for the hunt. She enjoys nothing better than to lead the hunting parties of the clan as they go out in search of prey. Be it said that Ryo disapproves of hunting purely for sport and, like many another great huntress, she knows that whatever prey is taken must be respected and it is given to the claws of the clan to be used and not ever wasted; to do otherwise, she believes, would be to court divine anger.