Abzan houses endured through kinship and fortification, Jeskai students pursued cunning and discipline, Sultai rulers converted wealth and death into power, Mardu riders prized speed and Temur hunters trusted strength guided by the wild. Their identities were distinct, yet all five carried a dragon aspect as proof that humanity had once survived the sky.
Victory over dragons did not produce peace. The clans fought over territory, resources and competing ideas of what strength required. Bones became fortresses, trophies and teachings. Every battlefield reinforced Sarkhan’s belief that Tarkir had inherited the outline of greatness while losing the living force that once demanded more from its people.
Sarkhan had left this cycle after a dragon-spirit spell ignited his spark. Service to Bolas and failure at the Eye of Ugin brought him back with his mind fraying. The voice inside him offered direction: find the place where Ugin fell, and find the doorway Tarkir had hidden in its own past.