Surak

"I don't seek the fulfilment of desires. I have chosen to end the desires themselves."

- Surak in the novel The Devil's Heart Surak was a male Vulcan introduced in the original series Star Trek episode The Savage Curtain.

Surak was a revered scientist, philosopher, and leader in Vulcan society. Born on Vulcan in the Earth year 279 AD, Surak brought about the Time of Awakening on Vulcan, leading the Vulcans to reject passion and emotion and setting them on the path of logic.

As a child Surak witnesses the violence of Vulcan society that was tearing their world apart. At a young age he witnessed the aftermath of a large battle near the family home in which several Vulcan clans fought to destruction. As his father was dying he gave Surak the Ko'na'ya, a piece of the Guardian of Forever. A rival General Garamond came and demanded the stone. Seeing how much death the stone had caused he gave up the stone, which Garamond took. Garamond would later leave Vulcan with those who marched under the raptor's wing.

By 312 AD Surak had dedicated himself to peace and logic. His new outlook caused most of his friends to fall away until a core group remained. This group included T'Klass, Jarok, Nirak, T'Mor, S'task, and Vethek. These Vulcans would become leaders in Vulcan society - for example Surak's student T'Klass became one of the first Kolihnar Masters on Vulcan. Surak recorded all of his writings in the Kir'shara.

Surak died from radiation poisoning around 481 AD that resulted from a nuclear blast set off during one of the last great wars on Vulcan. Afterwards the Vulcans who marched under the raptor's wing left Vulcan and eventually became the Romulan species. At the death of his physical body his katra was transferred into a katric ark.

Surak's katra was rediscovered in 2137 by Syrran. By then due to covert Romulan interference the Vulcans were turning away from Surak's teachings and becoming more warlike again. Syrran took Surak's katra inside his mind and helped estalish the Syrranites - a group of Vulcans working to reestablish Surak's philosophy on Vulcan. When Syrran died in 2154 the katra was transferred into the human Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer.

Surak told Archer that he did not blame Archer for his dislike of Vulcans, that the Vulcan society he helped establish 2,000 years earlier was not the same one Archer was familiar with. He helped Archer locate the Kir'shara, who brought it back to the Vulcan capital. There the leaders of the Vulcan government realized how corrupt the High Command was. In the fallout the Romulan V'Las was removed from his post as First Minister. The Vulcan High Command was dissolved as the rediscovery of the Kir'shara led to a reformation on Vulcan as the people rededicated themselves to Surak's teachings.

A short time later an elderly Vulcan priest transferred Surak's katra from Archer into himself. From there the katra went to T'Pau. The katra was apparently destroyed in 2156, however by some accounts Surak's katra still survived into the 24th century, where his katra still caused volcanic rock statues to glow from inside on the Kolinahr plains of Vulcan.