When you use the North-East Focus Altar, it can be either a Black Hand or Aquilonian Surge. I believe the surge you receive is randomly chosen among those available. However, I’m not sure how you determined it to be a T1 surge. In my experience, the tier 1-3 are indistinguishable, the only thing setting them apart from T4 is the absence of named thralls. Still, if no named thralls (at all) are spawning then it’s definitely something that needs a fix.