Shadow Walkers are a strange breed that possess the ability to slip between the planes of reality, becoming immaterial. This allows them to hide in the shadows, either hunting from the concealment of near invisibility or evading enemies. Though they become corporeal to mate or to eat, they spend most of the rest of their lives walking in the shadows. Shadow Walkers are wary creatures, though on dark autumn evenings when the leaves fall to swirl in the chill, rain damp air, they may be seen drifting out from the shadows.

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.

Nasimi was too late to join the group of shadow walkers who put on a morality play every Yuletide, but found something similar with Garathef. Every Valentine's Day, she visits the dragon chosen by Garathef to prepare them for being visited by the three "spirits" of Valentine's Day (one each for the past, the present, and the future). Nasimi does so by pretending to be the ghost of a lost friend or loved one. If Garathef's pygmy dragon spies haven't turned up anything, she knows enough about draconic nature to maneuver the target dragon into giving her enough information to work with.