But the truth of the Watraii has its basis millennia in the past. In the time of Surak, Vulcans were at a crossroads, on the cusp of either embracing logic or succumbing to their passions and thereby destroying themselves. With Surak's blessing, a group of Vulcans left their turbulent homeworld to find their destiny in the unknown reaches of space. But the stars prove even more unforgiving than the desert sands of Vulcan, as Karatek, the reluctant leader of the exiles, struggles to hold his people together.