Painted Ray Pygmies are found in the ocean where their coloration helps them to blend in to the sea floor. They will cover their heads and bodies in a thin coating of sand and sense nearby prey by feeling the vibrations of the water with their dorsal fins. Once suitable prey draws near, they will spring out in ambush. Painted Ray Pygmies tend to breed large clutches at once, laying their eggs in a pile where the ocean currents can supply the eggs with warm water. Sometimes these currents will pull a stray egg from the clutch and wash it ashore.

These tiny dragons are picky breeders, and will only breed when they feel ready and able to tend to a nest. Once they are ready, they will use mana they have collected in their scales to shift their colors and signal to their potential partners that they are seeking to reproduce.

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.

Pygmy dragons are the smallest category of dragons, being on the same scale as domesticated animals. They are often found around concentrated populations of dragons, relying on their larger brethren to ward away potential predators and leave scraps. As such, the majority of a pygmy’s diet is scavenged. Due to their tiny size, pygmies do not breed with larger varieties of dragons.

Shelf Mushroom was adopted by a pair of land dwellers and named after shelf mushrooms, which attach to trees and are not palatable to her parents. That's probably a good thing- Shelf Mushroom would like to be unpalatable, too. Having never seen them, however, she isn't entirely sure if her name refers to a shelf or to a mushroom, and growing up, when she was around adults and cohorts who looked down upon silly, overly cute, and dishonorable names, her mum advised her that she could call herself Polypore, which means Shelf Mushroom but sounds different. Shelf Mushroom has wooed several partners, though she's used her cooler-sounding nickname to them all, having not had the confidence to divulge most of her personal information to them.