Surat Nuat was a Sullustan male gangster, crime lord, and arms dealer on the planet Akiva. He was born on Sullust and lived in a wind-harvest tunnel. Nuat killed his parents when he lived on Sullust and froze his brother in carbonite, which made up the surface of his desk that laid in his alcazar.
Surat Nuat grew up in a wind-harvest tunnel on the planet Sullust. He had an estranged relationship with his parents and older brother Rutar Nuat. Surat murdered his mother by throwing her into the wind-harvest tunnel. He then killed his father by slitting his throat with a piece of kitchen cutlery. Surat then fought with Rutar in a vicious fight. He managed to overpower his brother and have him frozen in carbonite but lost one of his eyes in the process.
Surat Nuat later became the leader of a criminal gang based on the backwater Outer Rim planet of Akiva. At some unknown point, Surat acquired a Corellian slave girl named Mercy whom he treated well most of the time. Surat Nuat's gang had ties and dealings with the Galactic Empire.
A few months after the Battle of Endor, the local junk dealer Temmin Wexley stole a shipment from a transport that had crashed on Trabzon Road in Akiva's capital Myrra. This shipment was a sealed chest that contained a trove of data cubes that detailed the Empire's dealings with organized crime. Surat had been collecting this information so that he could bargain his way to freedom with the emerging New Republic, the government created by the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Surat sent three of his henchmen, the Koorivar Makarial Gravin, the Abednedo Toomata Wree and the Ithorian Herf, to settle scores with Wexley. As reparation, the gangsters demanded that Temmin surrender his shop, which had once been the Wexley family home. However, Temmin ordered his B1-series battle droid Mister Bones to knock them out. Under Temmin's orders, Mister Bones dumped the unconscious gangsters in the Kora Biedies.
Shortly later, Surat and his other henchmen traveled to Temmin's shop only to find that the boy had been taken by his mother Norra Wexley. Instead, Surat found the Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, who had fallen into the building while spying on a visiting Imperial delegation. Surat quickly recognized Jas as a bounty hunter. She offered her services as a bounty hunter to Surat and volunteered to help him hunt down Temmin. While negotiating, Surat realized that Jas had accepted a bounty hunting job with the New Republic to capture Imperial officials. During a brief altercation, one of Surat's Narquois henchmen stunned the Zabrak. After denouncing the New Republic, Surat informed Jas that he was a friend of the Empire and announced that he would give her as a "gift" to the Empire.
Later, Surat and his entourage returned to his cantina called The Alcazar with Jas in tow. There, they encountered Sinjir Rath Velus, a former Imperial loyalty officer who had deserted the Empire on Endor. He offered to buy Jas but Surat insisted on selling the prisoner to the Empire. Sinjir then introduced himself as an Imperial officer who had survived the Battle of Endor. However, Surat revealed that he had not yet informed the Empire about Jas and dismissed Sinjir as a wizard, rebel, or a con artist. Following a brief shoot-out, Sinjir was knocked out by The Alcazar's bartender. Surat then ordered that Sinjir be imprisoned in a cage beside Jas's cage.
Surat's henchmen later set a trap for Temmin at his shop using the immobilized Mister Bones as bait. Surat's Rodian and Herglic henchmen brought the unconscious Temmin to Surat's lair. After recounting his past to Temmin, Surat ordered his Herglic henchman Gor-kooda to cut out the boy's tongue. Before Gor-Kooda could carry out the sentence, Jas and Sinjir managed to break free of their cages and rescued the boy. Together, the three captives fought Surat's henchmen and several Imperial troops who had arrived to collect Jas and Sinjir. With the help of the reactivated Mister Bones, Surat's prisoners managed to kill several of Surat's henchmen and the Imperials before escaping with Norra, who had arrived in a bala-bala speeder.
Later, Temmin made a secret deal with Surat to get safe passage off Akiva for himself, his mother Norra, and Mister Bones. In return, he agreed to lure Sinjir and Jas Emari into a trap with Imperial forces. However, Surat then negotiated a separate deal with the Imperial Admiral Rae Sloane to handover Norra to the Empire as well. Following the capture of Norra and his companions, Admiral Sloane contacted Surat via hologram. Surat informed Temmin about the double-cross in the presence of a distraught Temmin.
Following the Rebellion on Akiva, Surat and many of his gang members fled offworld after the New Republic launched a crackdown on organized crime. Other members of his gang were killed in a brief "blaze of glory" with New Republic forces. In addition, the New Republic obtained the data cubes that Temmin had stolen from Surat. These data cubes exposed the Empire's dealings with organized criminal groups.
Surat Nuat was a Sullustan who had a dead eye with an opalescent cataract over it, and around it a starburst of scar tissue. He had a small nose with two pinholes for nostrils and pursed lips which sat underneath double flaps of jowl tissue. He wore a black skullcap which looked like a spider on his head. Surat was a vicious and self-serving individual who was willing to kill his parents and incapacitate his older brother.
As a gangster, Surat developed a constructive relationship with the Empire since they tolerated his criminal activities. He regarded the New Republic, the successor government created by the Rebel Alliance, as a "choir of overly moralistic do-gooders." Surat wanted to do business with the Empire primarily because they could outbid other bidders. Surat was a ruthless man who dealt harshly with those who stole his property. He ordered one of his henchmen to cut out Temmin's tongue after the youth stole a shipment of data cubes which he had accumulated as a bargaining chip with the New Republic.
Surat was also a dishonest negotiator. After negotiating a deal with Temmin to get the boy, his mother Norra, and his droid Mister Bones safe passage offworld in return for selling Sinjir and Jas Emari to the Empire, Surat double-crossed the boy by negotiating another secret deal with the Empire that included Norra. After the New Republic took a strong stance against organized crime, Surat and his surviving associates fled into hiding to save their own skins.
Surat Nuat first appeared as a minor antagonist in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel Aftermath, which was published as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens series.