Thundersnow Dragons are prolific magic users their entire lives, often developing this talent long before they leave the safety of their egg shell. However, these dragons are considered to be quite dangerous until they are much older, as it takes years of practice and experience before they can truly master control over the Ice and Lightning magic naturally produced within their bodies. This dedication to their craft has given way to snobbish and haughty personalities, especially for those who spend decades honing their abilities for the express purpose of defeating any and all opponents that come their way. Despite the fact that they aren’t always the most friendly or welcoming, a little patience and goodwill can go a long way to earning their trust. Those who manage to gain a Thundersnow’s companionship will always benefit from having a powerful ally to defend them, so long as they don’t mind a bit of attitude and cold weather in return.

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.

Kurbin is known as Fischer Yew to his immediate family and mates and Kurbin to everybody else. It was all due to a series of misunderstandings that he came to be known as Kurbin, starting at the first cave network he joined when he was 34, whose record-keepers misidentified which alphabet his sign-up sheet used. "Getting my exact name right" wasn't high on Fischer Yew's list of priorities, and neighboring regions came to know him as "Lightning-Ice Intendant Burb". When he moved to Aquebecker, he took the opportunity to issue a corrective missive to the government center to fix his name, and they turned it into "Bumrib" and then "Furnib" and finally "Kurbin". There was much grumbling and bolt-waving, and the staff at Aquebecker Center, believing he was just being capricious and surly, were annoyed that this respectable scholar would repeatedly change his name as if he had nothing better to do or had something to hide, making him no more respectable than a child, criminal, or actor.