Dromoka, Ojutai, Silumgar, Kolaghan and Atarka gained broods strong enough to reverse the ancient balance. The dragons killed khans, absorbed survivors and erased institutions that could support rebellion. Clan names vanished from public life even where habits, families and fragments of teaching continued beneath new authority.
Each surviving culture reorganised around a dragonlord’s preferred virtue. Endurance became obedience to Dromoka, Jeskai learning narrowed under Ojutai, Silumgar turned Sultai ambition toward himself, Kolaghan demanded speed without Mardu independence and Atarka consumed the abundance Temur hunters gathered. Continuity remained, but it was continuity edited by conquest.
The altered present therefore contained both the dragons Sarkhan wanted and people whose choices had been constrained by their victory. Tarkir had not simply exchanged war for wonder. It had traded five competing human powers for five draconic regimes and changed which histories were dangerous to remember.