Royal Crimson Dragons are so named due to their massive size and confident, regal bearing. Most of the time they are laid back, ignoring non-prey creatures smaller than themselves, although they will occasionally take fresh kills from other dragons as a reminder of their place in the social order. Although there are few other dragons large enough to pose a threat to Royal Crimsons, they have little tolerance for potential rivals and will fiercely defend their territory from such intruders.

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.

Zekthorem was both laid and hatched at a time in his human's life when she was undergoing the second (or third, she couldn't quite remember) of the great "naming wars," in which too much zest in acquiring new dragon friends had left her quite at a loss as to what everyone's names and stories were. Going mostly undetected aside from generous feeding and occasional head scratching accordingly, Zekthorem became quite curious about what the mage was getting up to, ignoring his parents' advice to just let her go about her raving in peace and stalking along after her on most of her frantic cataloging attempts. It was in this way that he learned both what she was doing, and--by asking while she was badly distracted--earned the right to help! So it was that the cheeky little monster gave incorrect and highly embarrassing names to most of the cave's other new arrivals, ones he still uses to refer to them today, accompanied by a winning smile, no matter how fiercely they glare at him.