Heartstealing Dragons are an unusual breed, named for their mating rituals. These dragons use their long, slender bodies to sneak into both human and dragon holds to steal things over the year. Then, when the right season hits, they give away their entire hoard as gifts, leaving things in the homes of other dragons to attract them. When these gifts are found, however, the recipients can’t always tell who gave the gifts. This receiver often assumes the source of the gift was the original owner, causing them to form friendly bonds with other dragons in the area, spreading peace—and sometimes even sparking love. The only way to know if a gift is from a Heartstealing Dragon is to find one of their wafer-thin scales at the scene.

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.

Najash is the third rank-2 M-listed daughter in a business-oriented family—the wealthy and shrewd elder adults have plans for every eventuality, so survival is no issue for the large clan. Najash and her siblings oversee small and medium-sized dealings but otherwise have a lot of time to do other things, and everyone has a different job and set of interests. Najash is a playwright first and foremost, specializing in theater productions that insult the viewers' intelligence. It's unclear if she's aware of this, since she loves her work (loves both her job and her plays) and likes to talk about her intellect. Whenever she sits in on an opening night, she gleefully listens to the audience's wails of submission and offerings of juicy food, sure signs of another job well done. Najash also composes sounds loosely arranged in some sort of order to be heard for entertainment purposes. Other people say this is called "music", but she says it's just like them to not give her credit.