Hellfire Wyverns are so named for their foul tempers and fiery visages. Their social structure places all females above all males, due to superior physical characteristics and violent dispositions. Forced subservience of the males causes them to become vicious, petty, antisocial, and passive-aggressive compared to the aggressive and social females. However, orphaned hatchlings raised by foster parents of another species can develop surprisingly even tempers and mellow dispositions, proving that their defining unpleasant nature is, in fact, a learned behavior.

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.

Agrippa Ascertes is part of the Hellpack, a group of Hellfire Wyverns and Horses that live slightly separated from the rest of the flock. Having started with a few mated pairs made of one of each breed, they take in new wild-born Hellfires and Horses every generation, as mates for their Hellhorse offspring.

Agrippa is mate to the Horse dragon Anibal, and so is also a founding member of the Hellpack. She joined the venture for just one reason: power.

She quite liked the idea of being one of the matriarchs of a special little sub-flock, of being one of the oldest, wisest and most respected Wyverns in her immediate vicinity. The fact that she kept losing to Gloria had absolutely nothing to do with it, not one bit.

At least that's what she tells herself.