Hellfire Wyverns are so named for their foul tempers and fiery visages. Their social structure places all females above all males, due to superior physical characteristics and violent dispositions. Forced subservience of the males causes them to become vicious, petty, antisocial, and passive-aggressive compared to the aggressive and social females. However, orphaned hatchlings raised by foster parents of another species can develop surprisingly even tempers and mellow dispositions, proving that their defining unpleasant nature is, in fact, a learned behavior.

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.

Schwartzer's life as a hatchling was somewhat confusing. Her carbon black scales and ice-colored, ragged wings broadcast her lineage—but not her personality—to the rest of the motley brood in her cavern. A bright glaze of fear would flash over her adopted siblings' faces whenever she ambled by, but with a father estranged from his violent hellfire clan and a contemplative, stargazing nebula mother, Schwarzer was hardly a bully. She was quiet and watchful—and, in the manner of quiet and watchful young creatures everywhere, she learned quickly how complicated the world could be. Even now, her companions shiver when they hear her shrieking in the night, alternating yowls and rasps with every breath. Maybe if they realized she was only laughing, they wouldn't be so afraid.