Black Marrows are named for their dark colored hides which are encased in a distinct exoskeleton. Their skull and the top edges of their spine push out from under the skin as they age. As such, their young need excessive amounts of calcium for this armor to develop. The older a Black Marrow dragon is, the more skeletal their appearance. They often use their skeletal looks to lure in foolish scavengers or terrify predators. These vicious dragons love nothing more than to crack open bones with their stony beaks and eat the marrow inside. Voracious scavengers, Black Marrows will swarm and devour corpses both old and fresh, sometimes even dragging larger finds to the water to allow them to “ripen.” Despite their dreadful demeanour and often horrid stench, Black Marrows are devoted mates and parents.

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.

Edrian Hearthunter is the only Black Marrow among his siblings, who are all Harvest dragons, and since childhood, he has been rejected by most of the clan. Having taken on his father Redfang's grotesque appearance and his frightening habits, many of the other dragons show him even more hostility than Redfang received. Ever since he was a hatchling, he has fostered a grudge against his father, for giving him the traits that made him an outcast, and his siblings, for ridiculing him. He has since retired to his own company and he watches the clan with distant eyes, dreaming of the day that he could get revenge for the wrong they have done him.