Balloon Dragons are so named because they are filled with a gas that makes them almost lighter than air, similar to balloons. However, they are not prone to bursting, as they are covered in tough skin and can deflate themselves if necessary. In addition, they generally are slow moving. They use their gas bladders to float to the tops of trees, where food is more abundant. They can shift their weight from their backs to their fronts, allowing them to reach leaves and fruit.

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.

Never terribly picky eaters at the best of times, Kikyuu-Ryuujin takes that behavior a step farther than is necessarily healthy by consuming overripe or fermented fruits and mostly dead leaves on a fairly regular basis. This causes her stomach to release more gas into her gas bladders (in a process vaguely similar to methane in swamps), why is also creates far more lift than normal. There is concern, even today, among her peers, that she may end up overeating, and subsequently create a gas so strong that she cannot deflate properly, and will freeze in the upper air due to uncontrolled lift.