Witchlight Dragons are silent, secretive beasts that haunt the most remote corners of the wilderness. They beguile their unsuspecting prey into peril by assaulting their perceptions of reality and stoking the fires of paranoia with masterfully-conjured illusions. Unwary travelers have been led astray by the soft, inviting glow of their eyes amidst a sea of encroaching darkness, never to be seen again. Those that survive a Witchlight Dragon’s psychic onslaughts do not escape unchanged: some believe that the apparitions these dragons summon to tempt or torment their victims awaken them to hidden truths about themselves.

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.

Anyone who wanders into a certain stretch of wilderness will face four witchlights, each with the alleged goal of bringing redemption to a poor lost traveler. After Zhydu, with her illusions of lost loved ones, it's Hilpek's turn in the morality play. Zhydu will already have left the target predisposed to remember every past wrongdoing, no matter how small, which makes Hilpek's job easier. He brings out even the smallest lapse and magnifies it until it seems the most terrible crime imaginable. By the time he's through, his victims are willing to confess to anything or make any change, just so he'll stop. After that, they're Tiofsu's responsibility.