Black Dragons are warriors. They are strong and capable in battles of force, but also ample magic users, capable of devastating opponents with their spells. Their bright eyes give them excellent night vision, which is why they generally hunt during the night.

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.

Gilberta lives in the middle of a park that she constructed herself over many decades. It has beautiful flowers and trees, a huge patch of well-cared-for grass, and many species of small critters, some of which can only be found in Gilberta's park. It's a nice place at first glance, but actually, a walk in the park can be anything but a walk in the park. The ground is full of traps, and somewhere among the leaf litter is a pit of spikes where anything heavier than a goat can fall to their deaths. Gilberta sometimes lures people into her park, but only those she deems cruel and deserving of such a fate. If they somehow survive, she swoops in and kills them herself, and eats her meal in her "dining room" adjacent to the pit. For reasons only she understands, the traps don't activate and the loose dirt and sticks above the spike pit don't give out when innocent individuals wander in.