Balloon Dragons are so named because they are filled with a gas that makes them almost lighter than air, similar to balloons. However, they are not prone to bursting, as they are covered in tough skin and can deflate themselves if necessary. In addition, they generally are slow moving. They use their gas bladders to float to the tops of trees, where food is more abundant. They can shift their weight from their backs to their fronts, allowing them to reach leaves and fruit.

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.

Forthwith is stationed at the post on the very edge of Gyjana Network. Most dragons know he works here, though whether he's at this post as a reward for a good job or as punishment for angering someone at Gyjana is less clear. Whatever the reason, he seems to enjoy being here. He serves popovers to all his guests and likes receiving news from other places, especially Gyjana's rivals. If Forthwith's guests do not have any news, he still listens and serves popovers, but he's liable to sigh a lot, and enough of air intake like that causes him to float away. There was a dragon of his description 20-ish years ago who was cast out of his birth-land for breeding big, fierce centipedes and—oops—not securing their enclosures, allowing their escape. It took that many years to capture or kill enough of the centipedes for the threat level to sink to an acceptable level. The centibreeder may have been Forthwith or may not have been Forthwith—there's far more rumor than evidence.