Shadow Walkers are a strange breed that possess the ability to slip between the planes of reality, becoming immaterial. This allows them to hide in the shadows, either hunting from the concealment of near invisibility or evading enemies. Though they become corporeal to mate or to eat, they spend most of the rest of their lives walking in the shadows. Shadow Walkers are wary creatures, though on dark autumn evenings when the leaves fall to swirl in the chill, rain damp air, they may be seen drifting out from the shadows.

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.

When the fruit vine harvest is wrapped up and the thrumming fog rolls into the city of Doboja, it is the season of spirits. Dobojans celebrate Spirits' Vigil with midday feasts, pranks, labyrinth runs, and contests of strength and style. It's one of the two holiday times where Shadow Murker skips around in public in solid form. There are a lot of traditions of Spirits' Vigil with now-forgotten origins, such as the wearing of nine-toed ruffs. Shadow Murker can confidently say that he and his sister were responsible for that one, though he didn't intend it to be. When they were young, they sighted a group of mean-looking spirits, and at Shadow Murker's suggestion, they would save pieces from their recent meals as offerings, so the spirits would remain peaceful. 300-some years later, he's amused that the ruffs with toes attached that he made as a kid have become one of the costume elements of Spirits' Vigil, with nobody except him and his immediate family knowing how that came to be.