Surtak

Reborn in the ice

Sailing across creation

Fighting tyranny

Overview

Wise Heron, otherwise known as Surtak Wind Stalker is a Solar Exalt of the Eclipse Caste and captain of the Wandering Albatross.

A neatly trimmed black beard obscures much of Surtak's face, broken only by a duelling scar running part-way across one cheek. Two flinty eyes peer out from under the brim of a short bicorned captain's hat. Surtak still wears the dark blue uniform of the Silver Dolphin with the noticeable but subdued trappings of an officer. A short daiklave hangs in a scabbard by his hip.

After a much contemplation of his new-found power, Surtak has decided to use his solar powers to replace the corrupt regency with a more worthy government. In order to achieve this goal, Surtak purchased a ship, the Silver Dolphin and crewed it with trustworthy folk. Unfortunately, the crew were swayed into abandoning him by the god-blood Verdant Glory. Repurposing a ship used by the servants of Malfeas and naming it the Wandering Albatross, Surtak continues his quest to travel across creation, seeking out viable governmental models.

Surtak's anima is a coronal albatross, so bright that it doesn't so much shine as burn itself into the viewer's retina.

Early Life

Little is known of the life of Surtak Wind Stalker. The information reproduced below has been painstakingly pieced together from a variety of sources.

According to local records, Surtak was born in RY722 on the Blessed Isle into the family of a senior public servant. Surtak’s father saw that nothing was spared in his education. Unfortunately for Surtak (or Wise Crane as he was then known), this meant that he was often exiled to the library while other children played outside. As a result, he developed a strained relationship with his parents, leading to an eventual estrangement. Surtak later forgave his father, admitting that the strict learning regimen had been instrumental to his later success.

• Attentive Owl, Lives of the Solars vol. 2385 - The Silver Circle

“Ladies and Gentlemen, flight is something that we, as humans, are incapable of through natural means. Yet this has not affected our drive to ascend into the sky. In the first age, long abandoned in the mists of time, we took to the sky in great airships. While only few of these grand creations survive today, the spirit of flight is still strong within us. It is this spirit, the spirit of progress, which sets us apart from the multitudinous animals that inhabit creation. It was this spirit that built the first age and it is this spirit that will return us to our past glories. Fellow graduates, I hope that we will all use the skills we have learned here to progress our civilisation to dizzying heights of grandeur not seen since the first age. I thank you all for the honour of learning alongside you and wish you success in your endeavours.”

• Wise Crane, Address to the Chanos College for Higher Learning

After completing his studies, Surtak joined the imperial bureaucracy and quickly rose to a senior position in the bureau of trade. Anecdotal evidence suggests that several of his colleagues felt threatened by Surtak’s ability. Fearing that he would be promoted instead of them, they sought to remove him from the spotlight. To this end, they posted him to the trade delegation in Seahaven far from the perils of promotion. This exile of sorts refused to stick and, after two years and numerous successful trade negotiations, Surtak returned. This caused much anguish for his colleagues until an opportunity to write Surtak out of the picture appeared.

• Attentive Owl, Lives of the Solars vol. 2385 - The Silver Circle

Overseer Dies in Airship Crash

The imperial overseer of airships, Harmonious Tortoise, died in an Arjuf hospital yesterday after his airship crashed last week. The overseer had been commuting between the Imperial City and his office in Arjuf when the craft encountered technical difficulties. The ship crashed in a field east of the city leaving several passengers critically wounded. Harmonious Tortoise died of his injuries this morning. He was sixty-three and is survived by a wife and three children.

• Swift Tiger, Article for the Arjuf Advertiser 4 Ascending Air, RY749

It is with great honour that I accept this position and I pledge to continue the excellent work of the office of airships. Yet I am mindful of the circumstances surrounding this promotion. Let us take a moment to remember Harmonious Tortoise who died in the line of duty earlier this year. He was a good man and will be sorely missed by his department.

• Wise Crane, Speech at his inauguration as Imperial Overseer of Airships

This promotion relocated Surtak to Arjuf in the south of the blessed isle. Shoehorned into a position beneath his ability, Surtak was unfortunately unable to refuse the offer. His rivals had planned this well. Naturally, there is no evidence of conspiracy but a lot of people stood to gain from this “promotion”.

• Attentive Owl, Lives of the Solars vol. 2385 - The Silver Circle

It is my opinion that the office is severely under-resourced. I have only one clerk to help me with my work. While Belligerent Wombat performs his work excellently, the workload is far too much for both of us. We feel as if a veritable deluge of paperwork has overcome us. If I had another clerk, I could turn this operation into a model of efficiency but at the current staffing levels, we cannot cope.

• Wise Crane, Office of the Imperial Overseer of Airships, Annual Report RY748

The grounding of most of the airship fleet due to increasing maintenance difficulties has caused our workload to plummet. Without the workload of previous years, the office of the overseer has become an atrophied limb that the larger bureaucratuc body is unwilling to remove. Work has slackened off so much so that, in order to relieve the boredom, Wombat and I have started a small garden in the grounds. In related news, we are pleased to announce that our office has won best cabbage at this year’s Arjuf Agricultural festival.

• Wise Crane, Office of the Imperial Overseer of Airships, Annual Report RY749

It has become clear that, due to the monolithic size of the bureaucracy, no one really knows my office exists. If you read this, please send me a letter in a red envelope with the words “You are not Forgotten” inside. Thankyou.

• Wise Crane, Office of the Imperial Overseer of Airships, Annual Report RY750

Either the postal service between the Imperial City and Arjuf has collapsed or no one actually reads these reports.

• Wise Crane, Office of the Imperial Overseer of Airships, Annual Report RY751

I am stealing an airship in order to travel creation for a few years. Worry not, for I shall bring you back a souvenir.

• Wise Crane, Office of the Imperial Overseer of Airships, Annual Report RY752

After becoming disillusioned with the imperial bureaucracy, Surtak stole an unregistered airship and absconded from his position. His disappearance from Arjuf coincided with the appearance of an enigmatic figure in the scavenger lands known only as Enar Cesiw. Due to the almost childish nature of the cipher is not difficult to guess Cesiw’s true identity.

• Attentive Owl, Lives of the Solars vol. 2385 - The Silver Circle

The scavenger lands form the perfect playground for a bureaucrat tired of the imperial service. In my travels over the last year or so, I have found the people to be accommodating and the lifestyle to be most agreeable. Even if you don’t own an airship as I do, it is easy to find fine wine, comely wenches and good company. This book not only recounts my sojourn in these lands, it provides a useful guide for any who would follow in my footsteps.

• Enar Cesiw, Preface to A Bureaucrat’s Guide to the Scavenger Lands’’

Cesiw Missing

Playboy adventurer Enar Cesiw is missing after his airship disappeared in a storm yesterday. Experts say the craft could have been blown anywhere and it is unlikely Cesiw will return soon. Enemies of the man say good riddance! Enar Cesiw appeared from the Blessed Isle two years ago and immediately gained a reputation for misconduct. A hard-drinking, hard-partying gambler, Cesiw was soon feared by every father in the scavenger lands. Ever the enigma, no one is exactly sure where he came from or where he got his money. One thing’s for certain though, he won’t be missed!

• Inquisitive Rat, Article for the Lookshy Inquirer 3 Calibration, RY754

The one known as Wind Stalker appeared to the Bayar clan many cycles ago. The shaman Andrak of the Smoke foretold his coming. He prophesised that a man would fall from the sky in an egg of metal and that we would know him by his aura of gold. Utark leader of the Bayar clan was quite sceptical of the prophecy and was known to imply that Andrak was smoking something other than the sacred herbs.

And so it was, when a great storm stole up from the south and turned day into night, Utark’s tribe paid it no attention and continued about their business. With a crack of lightening, the clouds were torn open and the shell of an airship fell upon the earth. A man tumbled from an portal on the side of the object and Utark approached, axe ready to slay whatever demon had stumbled into creation. The man pleaded with Utark in a foreign tongue but Utark payed no heed. Then, just as the wind stalker was about to be separated from his skull, he began to glow.

A golden light burst from the man and burned into the eyes of the Bayar clan. The man began to speak in their tongue as if it were his own. He proclaimed himself to be chosen of the sun and that they should show him the respect due him as an agent of the gods. Many of the clan fled in fear and others, including Utark, bowed down in supplication. Suddenly, the light went out and the wind stalker collapsed in a heap. Humbled by the coming of the foreseen one, Utark bade his clan nurse the wind stalker back to health.

• Burak Wolf’s Bane, Kamak Clan, Interviewed by renowned ethnographer Whimsical Unicorn

I looked up at this guy and thought. Shit, he’s going to kill me isn’t he? I tried to talk to him, tried to bargain for my life but he didn’t understand. The language barrier would, it seemed, seal my fate. I had just begun to accept my imminent demise when BAM, suddenly I’m in a field of gold stretching beyond the limits of my vision. I looked up in wonder and saw the face of the unconquered sun. He opened his mouth and spoke to me (or rather at me, my mental state wasn’t exactly coherent and the time).

“THIS IS NOT YOUR TIME TO DIE WISE CRANE. I WOULD HAVE YOU DO PERFORM A DUTY FOR ME. ALAS, I FIND YOU ARE NOT READY FOR YOUR DESTINY AND YET I AM NOT INCONVENIECED. I SHALL GRANT YOU A PORTION OF MY POWER SO THAT YOU MAY STRIVE TO BECOME FIT FOR YOUR TASK. WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO. WATCH FOR MY SIGN, IT WILL GUIDE YOU WHEN ALL ELSE IS CONFUSION AND DARKNESS”

I woke up days later in a smoky hut with the grinning face of Andrak the Not Quite There in front of me. Somehow, that scared me more than our god did.

• The exaltation of Surtak Wind Stalker as described to Tanim, Silver Skies Scholar

For ten cycles, the wind stalker travelled with the Bayar clan and became one of them. He learned our customs and fostered friendship between the tribes where rivalry had previously taken root. Then, one fateful day in what your people call calibration, Andrak was presented with another vision. The stalker of winds was to be taken to the city of walls so that the he may be set upon the road of destiny. No longer as sceptical of Andrak’s predictions, Utark lead his clan north and west towards Whitewall. We do not know what became of the Bayars, as they have not been heard from since.

• Burak Wolf’s Bane, Kamak Clan, Interviewed by renowned ethnographer Whimsical Unicorn

Operative 10 (Air Branch): Now, you’re not in any trouble. I just need to know what happened on the Traveler’s Road

Cautious Finch: We were part of a caravan taking goods from Wallport to Whitewall. Spices mostly though there was some cloth and jewellery. Apparently southern incense was in demand.

O: So then what happened?

CF: Well, we were two days out from Whitewall when a whole clan of Ice Walkers appeared from the wastes and approached the road. We were worried that the road’s protection wouldn’t work. I mean, it keeps the fey and the death-knights at bay but did that also apply to the ice-walkers? It turned out we didn’t have to worry though. The group stopped a little way off and a man approached. He said his name was Surtak of the Bayar clan but he looked like he came from the blessed isle. He spoke in broken low realm as if he had not spoken it in a long time. The ‘walkers, he said, meant us no harm and we were merely both going the same direction. He offered us the hospitality of the clan if we would join them for a midday meal. Unsure but emboldened, we accepted and over lunch the man, Surtak, talked rather animatedly, his low realm quickly returning. He had a voracious appetite for news. After all, he had ten years to catch up on. The biggest news, of course was the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, something shocked him greatly.

O: Did he say how he joined with the ice walkers?

CF: No, and when we asked he dodged he question simply saying he became stranded in the wastes and was taken in by the clan.

O: When did you discover he was an anathema?

CF: That was later, it was the scariest experience of my life.

O: Finding out he was an anathema?

CF: No, the death-knights. We were getting ready to continue on after the midday meal when two death-knights appeared out of friggin’ nowhere, excuse my woodtongue. We, naturally, fled to the safety of the road, dragging Surtak with us. The ice walkers were not so lucky. They obviously didn’t know about the protection the road gave and tried to fight the death-knights, poor bastards. The slaughter was horrific, not many of the clan survived long enough to flee. Those that did scattered and we never saw them again.

O: What did, … what was his name, … Surtak do during this time?

CF: He was trying to go and help but we held him back. Took seven of us too, bastard was stronger than he looked. We kept trying to say that the road was safe but he wouldn’t listen. When the slaughter was done, he collapsed in a sobbing wreck. We wanted to help, believe me, but there was nothing we could have done.

O: What happened next?

CF: The two death knights approached the road. They knew we were protected but I didn’t know if they cared. They stood a little way off and one of them stared intently at Surtak. Surtak began screaming in pain, clutching his head. We didn’t know what was happening but it was as if he and the death-knight were having a conversation of sorts. After a time, the other death-knight spoke. I shall never in all of my days forget that abhorrent voice and the ice it put into my very spine. “We don’t have time for this, the slaughter just now was cathartic but baiting the survivor is juvenile.” The first death-knight snorted, turned on his heel and left. It was a while before we started to breathe again. Surtak collapsed in a heap on the roadway drained by whatever communion the two had had. He was silent for the rest of the journey and ate little. I felt like he was contemplating whatever the death-knight had told him. We sat him on one of the wagons where he seemed to be meditating. Slowly, however, he began to glow with a soft golden light. Two concentric circles appeared on his brow. That was when we realised exactly what he was. We were a bit worried but he had done us no wrong and, honestly, we felt sorry for him after what happened on the road.

O: So you harboured an anathema?

CF: Well … Sort of, we were going in the same direction you see.

O: That’s beside the point. Anyway, what happened when you reached Whitewall?

CF: We left him in the care of one of the more reputable innkeepers and went about our business. We returned later to check on him but he had left. He did leave a message thanking us though.

O: Have you seen him since?

CF: No.

O: Thankyou for your assistance.

Interviewee Terminated

• Interview Log of one Cautious Finch, 4 Descending Fire, RY764. Interviewer: Operative 10 (Air Branch) immaculate Order.

Team Finds First-Age Ruin

A team of relic-hunters has returned from the north with more wonders of the first-age. One eye-catching piece is a mechanical orchestra, complete with miniature musicians. This artefact and others found by the expedition will be put on display at the Icehome Institute (admission free). The team, lead by White Bear and Surtak Wind Stalker has made a number of significant discoveries over the last few years but this particular excavation is, “Just another step on the road to Tzatli” according to Bear. The Institute is recruiting a larger team to return to the site and make a full study.

• Sven Harrelson, Article for the Haslanti Herald 26 Ascending Wood, RY766

Death on the Ice

The remnants of the Bear Expedition has returned from the northern ice empty handed. Of the twenty-four souls that left Icehome this time last year, only three have returned. The indomitable White Bear and his team set out to find the legendary city of Tzatli but found only death. Icequakes, hostile wildlife, and the ever-present cold whittled away the team until only three members remained. The survivors, Surtak Wind-Stalker, Wandering Star and Snow Fox limped home in an open boat and were found by the trader 'Tin Cod' two days ago. The three are currently recovering at the Icehome Institute. Will this tragedy mark the end of northern expeditions for the foreseeable future?

• Sven Harrelson, Article for the Haslanti Herald 12 Descending Wood, RY767

Silver Dophin Launches

Nellemann Nautical’s new thirty-foot carrack ‘Silver Dolphin’ has been launched from the Icehome shipyards. Commissioned by the enigmatic Surtak Wind Stalker, the vessel is to begin trade operations along the River of Tears. While the vessel is ostensibly for the river trade, the ‘Dolphin’ is fully seaworthy and is equipped with an iron prow to deal with ice. The maiden voyage of the ship will begin next week.

• Golden Lotus, Article for the Haslanti Herald 2 Ascending Air, RY768

Important Possessions

• Resplendent Personal Assistant - Recovered from the ruins of a first-age outpost.
• Short Orichalcum Daiklave - Recovered from the tomb of a warrior nomad.
• Personal Log
• The Silver Dolphin - A ship constructed in the Haslanti league. STOLEN
• The Wandering Albatross - A ship liberated from the daemonic invaders of Avalon. SUNK
• The Glorious Harbinger - An artefact land-ship and heirloom of Tanim's exaltation.

Intimacies

• Flight - Since childhood, Surtak has had an almost primal urge to take to the skies.
• Ice-Walkers of the Bayar Clan - After his exaltation, Surtak was adopted into this clan who became his second family.
• Ship's Crew - Surtak's crew have become a third family for him.
• Tanim - Through his usefulness in the running of the ship, Tanim has gained Surtak's trust and become a strong ally.
• Kai - Kai has saved Surtak's life on a number of occasions and has an strong moral compass.

Motivation

To Find the Lost City of Tzatli

• An ancient flying city, Tzatli is the holy grail for all Haslanti Treasure Hunters.
• Of a group of twenty-four who set out to find it, Surtak was one of only three who made it back alive.
• Surtak has sworn to lead another, better equipped expedition and has been trading to gather the funds needed.