Black Marrows are named for their dark colored hides which are encased in a distinct exoskeleton. Their skull and the top edges of their spine push out from under the skin as they age. As such, their young need excessive amounts of calcium for this armor to develop. The older a Black Marrow dragon is, the more skeletal their appearance. They often use their skeletal looks to lure in foolish scavengers or terrify predators. These vicious dragons love nothing more than to crack open bones with their stony beaks and eat the marrow inside. Voracious scavengers, Black Marrows will swarm and devour corpses both old and fresh, sometimes even dragging larger finds to the water to allow them to “ripen.” Despite their dreadful demeanour and often horrid stench, Black Marrows are devoted mates and parents.

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.

Telkhines is a female Black Marrow under the command of the young male Lurk. She is an obnoxious loud-mouth who is obsessed with winning. She has to be the best in everything, and can't stand anything less than first place. When she does win, Telkhines makes a big deal out of it and tells every dragon she knows, and then some. Most dragons have learned to ignore her constant gloating, but the young adults of the cave have a very hard time dealing with it as they have not the chance to get used to it.

Lurk has a different way of dealing with Telkhines, however. He usually binds her snout with seaweed, supplied to him from Leo, and orders her to sleep out of the cave until she learns how to shut up. The Black Marrow never learns, and is back in the cave the next day, doing her usual routinely boast.

She's never heard the term, "graceful in victory". In fact, she would much rather die a miserable death than sacrifice a victory. She thrives on the bragging rights that accompany first place.