Sam Barkley

Biography

Sam Wesley’s parents died when he was a young adolescent, their car hit by a drunk driver. The people he loved taken from him so senselessly, needlessly, and having no control over what happened, instilled in him a sense of futility along with a great rage. His anxiety and antisocial tendencies were abated by his two great loves: nature and Christina. Every love triangle is doomed from the start, and this was no different, as the first stole the second away from Sam. After years of hard work, he had been granted the opportunity of a lifetime- a commission by National Geographic to photograph the Bengal Tiger. The night he left for his expedition, he proposed to his love, and she accepted. Sam went forth and got the picture.

That’s when things got Wyrd.

They stayed in the jungle to get more pictures. Every night, one of them disappeared. Finally, only Sam remained. And then the Tiger came for him, the one with the Emerald Eyes. Sam had stolen a part of the Bengal tiger’s essence, it said. Give it back, and all will be forgiven. Sam gave him the photograph, but the Tiger shook its head. This is not it. Sam gave the Tiger his camera. He gave him everything he could find, everything he could think of, and still the Tiger shook its head…and smiled.

Sam spent the next seven years as prey in the Endless Jungle for the Tiger with the Emerald Eyes. He learned to run and evade the slow predators. He learned to hide from the stupid predators. He learned to fight and became the predator. This pleased the Tiger greatly, so much so, he made Sam his very own prey. For years, he ran, he hid, he fought, and the Tiger caught him, found him, ripped him apart with its terrible claws…and stitched him back together to run again. Eventually, the hunt went too far into the borders of the Jungle, and Sam escaped into the Hedge, back to Sacramento, where one year has gone by…

And he had somehow picked up a British accent, for no discernible reason, other than the Tiger enjoyed it more than Sam’s own uncouth Southern Californian. The Freehold recovers Sam from the Hedge, take him back, and explain things. He goes to see Christina, but finds her married to his Fetch, happy, with a newborn son, Ben. Sam hasn’t the heart to end the domestic tranquility and lets the Fetch live, though he comes back often to check on everyone from the bushes. Harry Turkleton convinces him to join the Summer Court and the Wizened becomes the Court’s Hunter of Longest Days.

Sam succeeds Harry as Summer Sovereign following the King’s murder for a short time, but before he ever sees the Crown, as a series of events in Capitol Park lead to him declaring war on the rest of the Freehold, all by himself. When confronted by Gianna, he gives up the crown willingly and is taken under her protection while he gets himself sorted out.

Sam ventures into the Hedge to retrieve his staff, which he used to kill his Fetch shortly after Harry’s funeral, and has yet to be seen again.

Sam always wears a long, tan jacket with many deep pockets, a hodgepodge of earth-toned thrift shop shirts, shorts, and sandals, dark sunglasses, and his quarterstaff is a constant companion. Sam drives a beat up, rusted-out white Ford F-150 and is the owner of Harry’s Bar, a dive named after his fallen friend which sports a painting of an angry, armored war turkey Sam painted himself.

Notes

• Real Name: Sam Wesley
• Seeming: Wizened
• Kith: Woodwalker/Woodblood
• Court: Dusk (Mantle 1)
• Court Positions: Former Summer Sovereign
• Vital Stats: 5’5, 150 lbs.

Mask

Brown hair and beard/green eyes.

Mien

Mien: Sam’s skin is the light grey bark of an Ash tree. His fingers and toes are gnarled, like roots, and his hair and beard are a mass of twigs, leaves, and bramble. His eyes glow bright green like shined emeralds, just as his Keeper’s did.