Surrak

Surrak
Details
Race	Human
Birthplace	Tarkir
Lifetime	Mending Era
Colors
(original timeline) (alternate timeline)

Surrak is a brave man from Tarkir. He epitomizes the savage nature of the Temur Frontier and the Atarka clan.

Original timeline

As the khan and First Father of the Temur, Surrak once bested a mighty bear in single combat (by punching it), earning himself the title Dragonclaw.^[1] After a time, he, his clansmen, and the same bear he defeated on his trial, repelled Sultai interlopers. Surrak, however, euthanized the animal, which had been hit by an arrow coated in poison, and wore its skin as a cloak afterward, to honor it in a symbolic union of the clan, the bear, and Surrak himself.^[2]

Alternate timeline

Surrak never became khan, but instead the Hunt Caller of the Atarka, the one responsible for leading hunting missions as specified by the Dragonlord, and her chief feeder.^[3] In this timeline, his epic confrontation is against a dragon, who tried to steal the meat Surrak and his party hunted for Atarka^[4] (despite the dragon depicted in the card being of Silumgar's Brood, without horns, while the one interfering with the feast of Atarka was one of her brood). It is revealed that, regardless of species, Atarka considers that the strong are always above the weak, hence why she spared Surrak after he killed and ate that interfering dragon.

During New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse, Surrak fought alongside Goreclaw against the invaders.

Post New Phyrexia's Invasion, the various clans began to openly rebel. Surrak had been confident in his role as Atarka's Hunt Caller, beholden to the agreement his ancestors had made with the great dragonlord to feed the brood in exchange for allowing them to live. He resisted the rebellions of the humans and sided with Atarka, leading warriors during the Phyrexian invasion and attempting to maintain the dragonlord's authority. Eshki and Surrak finally faced off, but he was no match for her skill; he conceded defeat, and many of his hunters defected to Eshki's authority, leaving Surrak to his lonely fate in the snowy landscape. He has not been seen by the Temur since, but there are rumors from other clans of a mysterious fur-clad man who refuses the company of all but the howling winds.

2 years later, when Eshki and Alniul were attempting to find the source of a blight on Temur lands, they encountered Surrak doing the same. He still retained his injuries from his fight with Eshki. At first they were about to come to blows but Alniul managed to force them to team up to fix the problem first. In Rainveil Forest they communed with the spirits and learned that both the clan and spirits were still in disharmony as they were still suffering physiological trauma from Atarka's reign. The various spirits held resentment at the current Temur after centuries of their lives suffering through starvation. Their memories of having to steal from their own families and even eat things that no man should as they starved was making then resent the current prosperity of their descendants. It took Eshki forgiving their sins and inviting them to return to the clan as family again to bring peace to them.

Surrak still held anger and resentment for Eshki for stealing what he felt was his rightful place as the leader of the new Temur clan but upon reflecting on the starved spirits some of whom he knew personally he gained a form of peace and acceptance. Months after fixing the problem at Rainveil Forest, he is seen having rejoined the Temur clan sharing a meal larger then he ever ate in his life with Eshki and Alniul. Surrak is more at peace as he and Eshki share a drink but comments that he will one day challenge her for the title of Khan again which she welcomes.

Story appearances

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