When he was about twelve, he and his family had to flee his home, which was in the process of a catastrophic disaster. Having lived on a space station, he was fairly well-versed in regular evacuation practice, and things went fairly by-the-books for him, though he is still terrified of ever running into a xenodragon or other burrowing, parasitic, acid-spitting monstrosity. These days, he spends more time among the humans of Nidus Descendi than the dragons, but he's become sort of entrenched with building efforts to make the village of Descendi's burgeoning unbonded people more comfortable to live in. He's taken on training in some basic engineering, which at this point has led to helping build prefab with the limited resources the Nidus has on hand. In the evenings, he spends much of his time in the tavern, playing darts or pool or otherwise gently competing with his friends. Deryn hasn't much intention of fully settling down, and feels like his life is somehow in stasis, and has been ever since he and his family left Star City.

Since bonding Drereth, Deryn has decided to take on the Pernese traditional ellided name, 'D'ryn', to help put his past behind him. He still works with other builders in the humanoid-populated areas of the Nidus, but he has more confidence knowing that Drereth is looking out for him.