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.

Sturm is one of the 'ghosties' as the Shadow Walkers of the Java Tiger's call them selves. Sturm, or Storm Shadow, is so named because of her habit of skulking about on stormy nights. Usually a dragon that does NOT try to scare others, on such nights, during the storms that occasionally rock the clan's territory particularly in fall, she seems to come alive and can often be seen, sliding between realities first here and then there, illuminated by the flashes of lightening. Despite her odd hobby, she devotes the rest of her time to dispelling what she emphatically calls 'superstitious nonsense' about her breed. Outspoken, for a Shadow, she is a well known figure with in the clan. Sturm insists that, despite their appearance, the Shadow Walker is a legitimate breed of dragon in their own right. This, of course, leads her to disagree, strongly but respectfully, with those of her own kind that still insist on clinging to the old ways. Tradition is one thing... being backwards is another.