Lords of Tarkir: UG Temur/Atarka, World-Speaker

Atarka, the World-Speaker: The dragonlord Atarka, shaman and whisperer of the wilds of Tarkir, has spent the past thousand years frozen in a glacier in a deep trance. Unsettled by what she perceived, she emerged at last from the ice and sought to change the futures she had seen. The Temur clans alone understood the gravity of her mission and her message and rallied to her side, pledging themselves to her service. Under Atarka’s guidance the Temur have become far more settled and organized, following the outlines of a great plan only the dragonlord herself seems to see. Atarka is aware of the battle between Nicol Bolas and Ugin and of Sarkhan’s changes to the timeline; she also understands the role Ugin plays in the landscape of Tarkir, and has even communed at times with the Spirit Dragon himself while he lay in his hedron cocoon. Most shamanic duties of the clans have been taken over by the watchful dragons of Atarka’s brood, but the World-Speaker spends the vast majority of her time in the mountain peaks, among the high glaciers. Her messages are conveyed through the Whisper and generally interpreted through a human shaman chosen for this purpose, who holds the title of The One Who Listens To The Sky; the current interpreter for the dragonlord is Chianul. Atarka is experienced in the Temur crafts of stone and ice-shaping and at times will send ice duplicates of herself below, following in the old Temur tradition of crafting servants from ice. For their final rite of passage, an apprentice shaman must undertake a harrowing journey alone to find Atarka herself so that the dragonlord may complete their initiation.

The Atarka clans clash frequently with both Kolaghan’s Glorious Horde and the Unending Kingdoms of the desert. One of the Horde’s most fruitful tactics involves following the dragon tempests and ambushing the nascent fledglings; the Unending Kingdoms, on the other hand, expand their dominion and their aggressive terraforming slowly but steadily. Atarka clan warriors both fight to protect the newborn dragons and strike back at the Kingdoms’ advance, sabotaging aqueducts and waylaying advance scouts and surveyors.

Chianul, Who Hears the Sky: Chianul is the current interpreter for the World-Speaker. Atarka’s voice is ever-present among the shared Whispers of the shamans, and Chianul was chosen by agreement between humans and dragons for the position of translator of Atarka’s directives into concrete action. While he gives no orders himself, the shaman’s words come from the dragonlord herself and will always be obeyed.

Surrak, Watchful Guardian: On the face of it, a dragonlord wouldn’t seem to need much in the way of protection. But while her mind walks in the spirit world her physical form is left vulnerable, not only to predators or assassins but also to the elements. Surrak is the dragonlord’s current guardian. He sits watch over her tranced form, holding his predecessors’ dragonclaw lance, and hunts to feed her when she can be roused from her dreams.

The Dragon's Throat: A sacred Temur site where Atarka first awoke from her glacial sleep. Now it is where the dragonlord meets her people on the rare occasions that she speaks to them in person.

Created on 20 Sep 2016 by haldaraumo