Blacktip Dragons are a small, shore-dwelling breed that tend to nest on sheer ocean side cliffs. They live in groups under a dominant female, who prevents her subordinates from breeding. During the mating season, a group of Blacktips can be very noisy and smelly indeed; males produce a distinctive musky odor and loud, low-pitched honking noises in an attempt to woo the alpha female.

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.

Subordinate WhiteSalt longs for the chance to replace Saltiness as alpha, if only for a few short years. She yearns to be able to have children (legitimately) of her own; she had left the Blacktip Cove group and mated with Heaven's Tea Sorrow but WhiteSalt unfortunately returned before her son was strong enough to hold up against Alpha Saltiness, which resulted in her son being chased away. This, above all else, has almost guaranteed that WhiteSalt will challenge Saltiness for leadership.