Pumpkin Dragons are a very small breed, named after their affinity for pumpkins. They are always found living inside hollowed-out pumpkins, and are only seen during the harvest season. Young children often hollow out and decorate their pumpkins in the hope that a Pumpkin Dragon will make it his or her home.

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.

When one knows that one is unwanted, it makes one's presence in the clans bitter and lonely. Calix knows that he was supposed to be traded to another tribe of dragons, and that it was only the chance of fate that he remained in this cave. He refuses to see his parents for their willingness to abandon him, and despises the only one who shares this fate for not holding onto her resentment that he does. Locked in the throes of self-pity, Calix refuses to do almost any work to help the dragons that support him, but takes what he can get with an uncontrollable air of entitlement. While others do resent him for this, they also feel guilty that he does feel rejected, although over time that feeling has faded as he refuses to accept companionship or help from any of the dragons in the cave, believing them to be out of pity. In truth, some of them are, but Calix is so absorbed in acting out his own tragic life story that he cannot see the few true offers of friendship.