Siyat Dragons are extremely smart and have an excellent memory. They are very quick and will often dive through the air making chirps and calls for attention if they feel ignored. Siyat dragons are herbivores and need to eat a lot to make up for all the energy they use with their excitable nature. Groups of Siyat Dragons have a hierarchical structure based on the color of their markings. It is thought that the social status of a dragon is determined by its incubation period—in addition to having different coloration, dragons allowed more time to develop are considered wiser and of higher status.

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.

Srl assumes she's a pretty average member of her breed, though she's never met another "See-yat". She lives with her adoptive family in the mostly human-populated town of Drupe, where she's considered a bright mind. She does research at the Elm Center, but only in the afternoon and evening, since she's not a morning person. She is also an activist, and her goal for now is basic and should be easy to achieve: personhood of dragons under the law. Well, she thought it would be easy, but humans are more dimwitted, obdurate, and self-centered than she thought, so this isn't going smoothly. In the presence of humans, even saying things as inoffensive as "I was a spokesperson" or "When I was a young woman..." would get her jeered. She would list off how she and fellow dragons in Drupe communicate in the same language, interact with other inhabitants daily, obey laws, and contribute to society, and she would get shut down with "Dragons are not people" without an inkling of sound reasoning.