Shimmer-scale Dragons are a very beautiful breed with small—but highly reflective—scales that shimmer and shine as the dragon moves through water. They don’t have fins or webbed feet, but their long, eel-like bodies allow them to swim quite fast. They were once rumored to carry large pearls in their claws—causing many to seek them out in search of this fabulous treasure. In reality, the “pearl” is of greater value to the dragon, for the fabled treasure is actually an egg carried by a migrating female.

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.

All the best tales end with unexpected twists, as Tang Taizong has often said. His stories are famous for their plot-twists such as having the lead villain save the hero's life or two enemies fall in love. Many are fans of his books because of these crazy twists, though he has created many dissenters with the habit of writing characters that his readers have no choice but to fall in love with and then killing them off in rather stupid ways. His most famous was a story surrounding the adventures of a human king and his sorcerer servant. The story's gripping plot line and often hilarious dialogue between the two main characters created many fans, but also enraged many when the king died in the book's final chapter. But Taizong likes seeing his readers react to his stories in emotional ways, saying that if a reader feels the same as a character, then he has achieved his goal; entertaining other dragons and offering them escapes from their current lives.