Fire Gem Dragons are a colorful, flamboyant breed often found in hot climates, particularly around active volcanoes. Their broad tails store the flames they breathe, which are colored by the heavy amount of minerals in the water they drink. These dragons come in a variety of colors, and will collect shiny trinkets and stones that match their own coloration. Despite their hoarding tendencies, though, Fire Gem dragons are social and will often congregate in groups and show off their collections while fawning over the stones their friends and rivals have gathered, occasionally arranging trades.

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.

Deviser learned the main language of the local humans and is visibly excited when he uses it. This confuses his peers, most of whom stick with language-less telepathy and a few vocalizations. They feel he's on a slippery slope. Today: ape language; tomorrow: wearing clothes and worrying about trivial etiquette. In turn, Deviser feels the others are missing out on something fun—what a shame. He has so much enthusiasm for writing and its rules that every new Aurax, he devises (hence his name) a pattern or theme to follow. For instance, he may decide to use only mono- and disyllabic words in a sentence or write in couplets. Sometimes, Deviser likes one of his themes so much that he'll continue past the allotted Aurax cycle. His favorite that he keeps going back to involves composing sentences where most words begin with the same sound or letter. He doesn't mind repeatedly writing the same kind of thing as long as each version is phonetically repetitive. All iterations: alliterations.