Reginald Birch

Reginald Birch (1705 – 1757) was the Grand Master of the British Rite of the Templar Order and a successful English businessman. Operating primarily from the British Templar headquarters located in London, Birch was responsible for the recruitment and training of Haytham Kenway, who was the son of Birch's employer Edward Kenway, a prominent Assassin.
In 1735, Birch engineered Edward's murder by mercenaries in order to acquire his journal, which contained Edward's research on the Isu. He also arranged for Edward's daughter and Haytham's half-sister Jennifer Scott to be kidnapped and sold into slavery, while concealing the truth from Haytham, whom he had indoctrinated into the Templar Order and turned into his personal weapon.
In 1754, Birch sent Haytham to the British colonies in America to locate a suspected Isu storehouse after the retrieval of its key. This expedition led to the establishment of a strong Templar presence in British America, and later the United States.
In 1757, Haytham discovered the truth about Birch's manipulation and involvement in his family's demise after finding and rescuing Jennifer. The siblings, alongside Haytham's friend Jim Holden, subsequently led an assault on Birch's chateau in France, where they ultimately killed the Grand Master.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Birch was born in London in 1705 to an English merchant. Following in his father's footsteps, he began his dealings at a young age, and by the time he had reached his mid-20s, he owned several merchant ships mainly involved with the shipment of tea to British America.Assassin's Creed III – Database: Reginald Birch
In 1723, Robert Walpole appointed Birch as one of Edward Kenway's senior property managers.Assassin's Creed: Black Flag – Chapter 73 It was around this time that he began courting Edward's daughter, Jennifer Scott, ostensibly for marriage, though his true goal was to gain access to Edward's journal, which contained his research on Isu sites in North America.Assassin's Creed: Forsaken
===Recruiting Haytham===
Birch was first introduced to Haytham Kenway in 1733 on the boy's eighth birthday, when Birch met the Kenway family at on Chesterfield Street. On the way back home, the group was attacked by a mugger, who attempted to steal Tessa Kenway's necklace. Birch threatened to kill the man but was dissuaded by Edward. The two men smiled after putting aside their disagreement.
Over the following two years, Birch became a frequent visitor to the Kenway household and was deemed a suitable match for Jennifer, although she disliked him. Birch also sent mercenaries from Edward Braddock's regiment to blackmail Jack Digweed, Edward's valet, into revealing the location of the journal, but he did not know where it was. Afterwards, Birch had a conversation with Haytham about his sword training and learned that Edward kept a steel sword in a secret compartment in the games room, indicating the journal's location.
Jennifer soon discovered Birch was a Templar and informed her father, leading to a row in his office. Birch tried to threaten Edward into giving him the journal, but the latter refused. Shortly after, on 3 December 1735, Birch sent his mercenaries to attack the Kenway manor, where they killed Edward, stole his journal and kidnapped Jennifer. During the scuffle, Birch arrived and killed a mercenary who had tried to murder Haytham, before escaping alongside him and Tessa when the manor was set on fire by the remaining mercenaries.
Shortly before Edward's funeral, Birch was appointed the Kenway family's councilor and Haytham's guardian. He secretly had Jennifer sold to Turkish slavers and then told Haytham that they would be traveling to Europe to "search" for her. During his time, he revealed his Templar affiliations to Haytham and began training him in the Order's ways. After he introduced him to Braddock, Haytham told Birch that Digweed was behind the attack as he had been away, and Birch and Braddock discovered the valet had fled, providing them with someone to pin their crime on.
===Grand Master===
After acquiring Edward's journal, Birch spent many years decoding it and learning as many of its secrets as he could. It was from this journal that Birch first learned of the Grand Temple and afterwards made it his Order's top priority to locate it and obtain its contents. To this end, he recruited Lawrence Washington into the Templar Order and upon his return to Virginia in 1738, he was instructed to locate the Precursor site and to be Birch's eyes and ears in the Colonies.Assassin's Creed: Rogue – War Letters: "Lawrence of America"
After five years of searching for Digweed, Birch and Haytham bought a chateau near Troyes, France, where he continued to train Haytham, eventually inducting him into the Templar Order in 1744. When it became clear that Haytham was a skilled killer, Birch sent him to assassinate a greedy merchant in Liverpool, as well as an Austrian prince.
In 1747, Birch sent Haytham to retrieve Edward's journal from Juan Vedomir, a Templar who was meant to be decoding the journal, but had begun collaborating with the Assassins. The same year, Grand Master of the Maltese Knights Hospitalier Manuel Pinto da Fonseca sent Birch a letter requesting aid against the Ottoman Empire and the French Empire, both influenced by the Assassins.Assassin's Creed: Rogue – War Letters: "The Hospitaller's Plea"
When Birch met with Haytham in Prague, he informed him that his mother Tessa had died. After attending her memorial, Haytham discovered Digweed was living in west Germany. Birch traveled with him to find Digweed but sent two of Braddock's mercenaries to reach him before he could reveal the truth to Haytham. As Haytham reached Digweed's location, he saw one of the mercenaries about to slit Digweed's throat. Haytham engaged the mercenary, chasing him into the forest. While Haytham was thus distracted, Birch took the opportunity to silence Digweed permanently.
However, before Haytham killed the mercenary, he learned that his father was an Assassin who was killed for one of his possessions. The mercenary also revealed that he served in the British Army under Braddock, rousing Haytham's suspicions. After an argument, Haytham rode to chase the other mercenary, whom he had seen riding back to Braddock's regiment in the Dutch Republic.
In 1748, Birch was contacted by Madeleine de L'Isle, who told him about a Piece of Eden called the Heart of the Brotherhood that was stolen by a slave woman named Jeanne a year earlier. Upon discovering that Jeanne had been purchased by Philippe de Grandpré, Madeleine asked Birch to use his influence in the financial world to hinder the profits made by his company. When Philippe was vulnerable, she would approach him with an offer of marriage that would allow him to restore his business and provide her with an opportunity to get close to Jeanne and the Heart.Assassin's Creed: Rogue – War Letters: "Arranged Marriage"
When Birch discovered that Washington had made no progress with his search for the Temple and that there was a new Assassin Brotherhood established in the Colonies, he sent Lieutenant Colonel George Monro to North America in 1750 to assist Washington, stating in a letter that while Monro was to be Washington's subordinate, he was still "his better in every way".Assassin's Creed: Rogue – War Letters: "Monro"
It was also around this time that Birch learned of the existence of the Prophecy Disk in Chichen Itza from Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer, who requested to create a work site to excavate the Mayan city and attempt to locate the artifact. Birch complied with de Ferrer's request and created an operation to acquire slaves to send to Chichen Itza to dig for the disk and other Precursor relics. While initially headquartered in Florida, per the suggestion of his agent John Harrison, Birch had the operation moved to Louisiana under Madeleine's command to avoid detection by the Assassins. She impressed Birch with her resourcefulness, and was promoted to Master Templar sometime around 1751.Assassin's Creed: Rogue – War Letters: "Chichen Itza"
===The Grand Temple===
Haytham reunited with Birch at White's in 1753, telling him of his service with Braddock in the army and his concerns over Braddock's bloodthirsty actions, believing he was abandoning the Order. Unconcerned, Birch gave Haytham his latest assignment, which was to kidnap Lucio Albertine, a Corsican scholar who could decode the journal. Haytham captured him, but he expressed concern over Lucio and his mother Monica's treatment after coming to Birch's chateau and seeing them chained in the cellar. Birch gave him his word that they would be released safely once their work was done.
A year later, Birch attended a performance of John Gay's musical The Beggar's Opera in the Theatre Royal in London. When Haytham arrived to meet with him, Birch proclaimed his happiness at the play's revival, referring to it as Gay's "best work by far". Birch then ordered Haytham to obtain an amulet from an attending patron and member of the British Assassins, Miko.Assassin's Creed III – A Deadly Performance
After Haytham assassinated Miko and retrieved his amulet, he presented it to Birch, who revealed that he suspected the artifact to be the key to the undisclosed Grand Temple. He then secured Haytham's passage to Boston for him to find the Grand Temple and also to establish a permanent Templar presence in the Colonies.
Haytham returned to Europe a year later, having learned that his valet Jim Holden had located Jennifer. Wary of Birch, Haytham told him his search in America had given him a clue to an Isu site in the Middle East and convinced Birch to let him investigate it. That same year, Birch had become known to the Colonial Assassins and along with several Templars operating in America and France such as Haytham, Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer and François de la Serre, was among the targets listed in the Davenport Homestead's manor.Assassin's Creed: Rogue – Freewill
===Death===
Once Haytham had rescued Jennifer in Damascus and discovered Birch had ordered the attack on the Kenway manor, the siblings stormed Birch's chateau, killing his guards with Jim Holden's help. Upon being confronted by Haytham, Birch tried to justify his actions by explaining that he did everything for the greater good. Haytham reprimanded him for turning him into a Templar through lies and deceit. Birch then engaged in a struggle with Jennifer, before she eventually killed him by throwing him into a sword that Haytham had planted in a door.
==Legacy==
In 1868, just over a century after Birch's death, the British Assassin Jayadeep Mir wrote a letter to fellow Assassin George Westhouse and compared Birch to Crawford Starrick, the new Grand Master of the British Templars. Due to Starrick's ruthlessness and powerful influence through his company Starrick Industries and its subsidiaries, Jayadeep said that it was as if Birch himself had returned from the dead.Assassin's Creed: Syndicate – A Spanner in the Works
In 2012, while the Assassin Desmond Miles was reliving Haytham's genetic memories, his friend and colleague Shaun Hastings told Desmond that Haytham's father Edward and Birch were long time business rivals despite Reginald being a family friend and employee of the Kenways. In Birch's database entry, Shaun mistakenly wrote "[Birch] worked together [with Haytham] as members of the Assassins" due to being unaware at the time that Birch and Haytham were Templars. Even after learning the truth, Shaun did not update the database to reflect the change. 
In 2015, the Templar Isabelle Ardant included Birch's name on a list of known British Templars. This list was later unveiled by the Assassins Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings when they infiltrated Ardant's office to plant a bug.Assassin's Creed: Syndicate – Modern day
==Personality and traits==
Reginald Birch was a fanatic obsessed with gaining the power of the long-lost Isu by any means necessary while masking it beneath the veneer of a chivalrous Knight Templar to indoctrinate Haytham. He was prone to deception, both to his enemies and to his supposed allies; his mastery of this art allowed him to ingratiate himself with Edward Kenway, an Assassin rival. However, Reginald's focus on his own self-interest was also his greatest weakness and led to his downfall once Haytham learned of his manipulation.
Birch was diligent in expanding the influence of the British Rite, establishing the Colonial Rite and actively coordinating with other branches. While he ostensibly maintained cordial relations with the other rites, being sure to cultivate strong connections through the exchange of gifts and intelligence, his peers resented his preoccupation with the Isu. seeing it as an impractical waste of resources. Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer in particular despised Reginald because de Ferrer's family were indebted to him and thus compelled to oblige his wishes.
==Behind the scenes==
Reginald Birch is a character introduced in the 2012 video game Assassin's Creed III, where he is voiced by Gideon Emery.
==Gallery==
ACIBirchWig.jpg|A young Birch wearing a wig
ACIII-BirchKey.png|Birch holding the Grand Temple Key
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed III 
*Assassin's Creed: Forsaken
*Assassin's Creed: Black Flag 
*Assassin's Creed: Initiates 
*Assassin's Creed: Rogue 
*Assassin's Creed: Unity novel 
*Assassin's Creed: Syndicate 
==References==
Category:1705 births
Category:1757 deaths
Category:Individuals
Category:English people
Category:Londoners
Category:Merchants
Category:Entrepreneurs
Category:Templars
Category:British Templars
Category:Grand Masters
Category:Individuals who held Pieces of Eden