Yellow-Crowned Dragons are found in the hottest, driest regions of the desert. Although they thrive in these conditions, they do very poorly in cold or humid climates. These dragons are very fast fliers and skilled hunters, and usually feed on small, quick desert antelope. Yellow-Crowned Dragons are diurnal, and spend the night in underground burrows they dig or steal from other creatures. They are often seen out sunning themselves in the early morning sun, waiting for the heat of the day to set in.

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.

Clever Clarissa isn't really above-average clever. Her guardian had a (stolen) dictionary and wanted a nice human word that made her special, and "clever" was the word. One thing Clever Clarissa is pretty clever at is figuring out secrets, by accident. She noses her way into others' affairs without realizing and then unwittingly blurts the sensitive information to those who aren't supposed to know them. Everyone thinks she's very good at espionage, so she has a lot of gold either because she was paid to stay quiet or paid to gather information. Some have posited that Clever Clarissa really isn't as smart as she's pretending to be. But then, she may genuinely fit her moniker and is pretending to be clueless pretending to be smart.