Handsome Man with cut short black hair

Samuel Lawrence Birchwood (Sam) grew up the son of a career military father, Lawrence Edward Birchwood, and a devoted mother, Sarah Louise Martin-Birchwood. Following in his father’s path, he enlisted in the Marines at age 18. Within two years, he qualified for Force Recon, completing both parachute and dive combat training.

While stationed in Germany, Sam’s life changed forever. On a camping trip with his father in the North Vosges Regional Nature Preserve, the two were attacked by an unknown “Fey” creature. Sam’s father was cocooned in living vines, and in his desperate attempt to save him, Sam Awakened. Lightning split the trees, the creature retreated, and Sam freed his father—though his own memory of the night is fractured, leaving only claw marks, broken forest, strange blood, and nightmares that have never left him.

Shaken, Sam left the Marines after four years of service, ending his career as an E-5 Sergeant at age 22. It was then that Sara McClain, a Verbena mage, tracked the resonance of his Awakening to a pub in Böblingen, Germany. She became his mentor, guiding him into the ways of the Verbena. Over the next four years, they grew close, their bond balanced between apprentice and mentor, friends, and something that could become more.

At 25, Sam returned to the United States and joined the Ranger Service in Osceola National Forest. His skill as a diver and survivalist quickly made him an asset.

Sam eventually settled into a modest house on the edge of the forest. The centerpiece of his backyard is a small grove: a 50-year-old live oak, a pair of American hornbeams, a red maple, and a Japanese blueberry tree, surrounded by berry bushes and a small pond. This grove is not merely landscaping—it is his Node, producing tass in the form of acorns from the oak or ripe Japanese blueberries.

Sam often describes how he found the property as a kind of calling. In the weeks after returning home, dreams and waking visions of dancing lights—his Avatar’s will-o-wisp form—guided him toward the house. The first time he set foot in the backyard, the air felt charged with potential, and the lights in his mind flickered brighter. It was as if his Avatar had been leading him there all along, to a place where earth and spirit could root him.

Though he has carved out a life of quiet purpose, Sam remains haunted by nightmares of his Awakening and hunted by the unknown “Fey” creature that scarred both him and his father. His connection to Sara McClain and his growing ties to fellow mages will test whether he can find balance as protector, student, and Verbena druid.