Copper Dragons are masters of stealth, slipping silently and swiftly through the forests and jungles where they live. Often hunting in groups, their prey rarely know they are being stalked until the dragon’s at their throat. In the air they are agile and skilled. Copper Dragons prize family groups, spending large amounts of time teaching their young skills. So great is their love of life and family that they will sometimes adopt orphaned dragons of other breeds to raise.

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.

Cwy is one of two dragons known as water-and-disliked-bugs-investigators. He likes the way this long title bounces in recipients' heads. Every year, from spring to early fall, he samples water at Sum'a Ditch (a bay and its surroundings) to look for growing mosquitoes. It's not just any mosquito; this hardy species feeds on dragons, and there have been reports of them piercing gaps in the plates of plated colossi and other hard-coated individuals. When Cwy and his partner discover sizable mosquito breeding areas, he notes them and spends a couple of months traveling to educate residents on things they can do and (if requested) move mosquito fish to caves with puddles and ponds nearby. Cwy is an incompetent magic user and is mentally susceptible, but he's safely visited many dragon breeds. Even the desipis of Lower Sum'a respects the water-and-disliked-bugs-investigators. She loathes mosquitoes, and her mind magic has no effect on insects.