Striped Dragons come in a dazzling array of colors complemented by an intricate pattern of stripes. These bright colors and patterns help attract their favorite food, insects. Because their prey is so tiny, striped dragons must spend a large portion of their day eating. The color of the offspring is usually determined by the dragon’s mate.

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.

Stripe's location is usually known only to the 15 or so dragons she calls family. They reside deep in a forest where mercurial spirits and odd magical things keep travelers out. She does make a few "public" appearances every year at a large lakeside castle not far from the forest's southeast edge and stays for a while to learn of any news among all manner of foreigners. The owner(s) of the castle keep it in very good shape—very comfortable—so it's not cheap to stay overnight. Stripe has a free pass as long as she agrees to spend a so-called adequate amount of effort eliminating insects, particularly bugs that get into the food storage, poison patrons, or chew on furniture. Though she'd rather be known as "Stripe", castle employees and regular guests address her as "Tay", so whenever she's called, other stripy visitors won't also turn their heads.