Olive Dragons are a small, forest-dwelling breed, rarely growing much larger than the average sheep. When alarmed, they can erect a long row of venomous spines on their back, serving to warn any potential predators that Olives are not a good choice for a meal. While not strong enough to kill anything larger than a small deer, their venom causes an extremely painful reaction and necrosis at the bite site, sometimes causing the flesh to rot and limbs to fall off.

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.

Serpentine of the Gems grew up in the Mountains of Elgar, raised by the human girl named Flight along with two other hatchlings, the Royal Blue female Virotha, and the Neotropical male named Vopentr. Even as a hatchling, Serpentine was a handful for his guardian, Flight, and his siblings. His cold personality often causes others to stay away, but it's his frequent violent nature that causes problems both for Serpentine and Flight, who takes full responsibility of his actions. Despite his difficult personality his brother and sister, the kind but proud Virotha and the sweet tempered Vopentyr, have stuck by his side and the three are known as the Triplets. After discovering the gem which he is named after, and receiving the title "of the Gems", Serpentine moved from Flight's cave and now lives with Virotha and Vopentyr in the forest called Erdi, one of the three forests in the Mountains of Elgar.