Royal Crimson Dragons are so named due to their massive size and confident, regal bearing. Most of the time they are laid back, ignoring non-prey creatures smaller than themselves, although they will occasionally take fresh kills from other dragons as a reminder of their place in the social order. Although there are few other dragons large enough to pose a threat to Royal Crimsons, they have little tolerance for potential rivals and will fiercely defend their territory from such intruders.

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.

Arnesh is a common bird trainer, a unique job title in Softer Burgh. He trains common birds, not that he's a bird trainer that's common or a trainer who's a bird or any other way the title could be construed. Nobody's yet told him to put a hyphen in there. Many people are happy he uses his bossy energy for work rather than on other dragons. Applications for trained birds include visitor welcomes with songbirds, warblers and martins for mosquito control, pigeons for message delivery, and many others. Arnesh's current focus is crows. He's been teaching them to hang out together and talk, possibly even use language. Some denizens of Softer Burgh are a little worried, since crows are already very smart birds, and maybe Arnesh is plotting something... illicit with them. Some even claim to have seen them "speaking together in a very deliberate way". Normally, no one blinks twice at a bunch of crows hanging out in a group, but when they start talking in unison, then it's caws for concern.