Cavern Lurker Dragons are nocturnal ambush predators. Although small, they are very aggressive and will attack anything weak enough to be overpowered. Their preferred method of hunting is to lie in wait in a cave, burrow, or other small, enclosed space; when any potential prey passes they will lunge out to grab hold of the unsuspecting victim and drag it back into the lair. Cavern Lurkers have an odd aversion to sunlight and almost never venture out during the day. More commonly sighted are the odd piles of bones they stack near the entrance to their dens. Their mating call is a low-pitched bumping noise.

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.

Lophear is the oldest twin of the Twin Shadows. Raised under the care of the human girl named Flight alongside his sister, Sipheara, in the Mountains of Elgar, neither Sipheara nor Lophear ever left the cave near the Lake of Elgar. The leader of the twins, Lophear enjoys leading his sister in causing terror, first in the cave as a hatchling, then throughout the Mountains of Elgar as an adult. The only living thing that neither Lophear nor Sipheara will harm is Flight, who the two feel protective of, if not entirely attached. As they grew older, the Twin Shadows found a home in a cave deep within the darkest part of the Mountains of Elgar, in a forest named Aeterna Nocte. There Lophear and his sister live, lurking in the eternal darkness during the day, and venturing out to haunt the rest of Elgar at Night. Their eerie calls to one another signal when they've found something to hunt, though both Lophear and Sipheara prefer to target creatures smaller then themselves.