The Dicer Family (Timeline)

* Matthew Dicer is born in Salem, MA, USA.

* Abigail Hopkins is born in Salem, MA, USA.

* George Steven Dicer is born to religious fanatics Matthew and Abigail Dicer in Salem, MA, USA. Matthew (age 37) is a clockmaker and Abigail (age 31) is a housewife.

### **1881**

* Matthew (age 44) and Abigail (age 38) teach their son George (age 7) about The Salem Witch Trials that happened in their town years ago. George’s parents are actually supporters of The Salem Witch Trials and think it was a disservice to let the witches, demons, and sinners go back to roaming around in society. What were their sins? Being mentally ill and/or disabled. According to George’s parents, mental illnesses and disabilities are God’s way of branding those who aren't meant to live and should be damned to Hell, like a natural scarlet letter of sorts. Despite his parents lecturing him, the very analytical George doesn't find their reasoning to be satisfactory, and as such, remains skeptical of its validity.

### **1881-1886**

* Throughout his adolescence, George likes to watch his father assemble and tinker around with mechanical parts for his homemade clocks. Matthew, who makes clocks for a living, explains to young George the process of putting the parts in and which function does what. As irate and irrational as Matthew is, he is a caring father who only wants the best for his young son, and to also protect him from those dirty, filthy witches!
* George picks up on what he observes overtime and actually becomes quite skilled in assembling things himself. Throughout the years, George becomes very knowledgeable, mainly through self-teaching, as he doesn’t want his parents to know he’s reading library books exposing the horrors of The Salem Witch Trials. He finds out that many of the “witches” who were burned at the stake were actually falsely accused, innocent people. This knowledge only reinforces his skepticism.
* Although George is not socially awkward, in fact, he is actually very articulate, he still prefers to keep to himself anyway. He spends most of his time tinkering away and building little widgets in his room. George will never grow out of his “But Why?” phase. Even into his adulthood, he will continue to deconstruct complex things in order to find the answers.

## **George Dicer's College Years**

### **1892**

**Saturday, July 23**

* Despite his parents’ objection, George Dicer (age 18) moves from Salem, MA to Ebony City, MA via train, where he will enroll into Ivory University to pursue a degree in Neurology and its related fields of study. Matthew (age 55) and Abigail (age 50) hate the idea of their son meddling with the "demonically possessed" (mentally ill). Upon arrival in the city, he takes up residence at an inn, but only temporarily. When the fall semester comes in late August, George will switch to Ivory University’s residential on-campus housing.

**Monday, August 29**

* The Fall Semester has come, and George (age 18) goes through his first day of college at Ivory University. From here on, he devotes most of his time to studying and researching topics related to the field of neurology.

### **1892-1894**

* As a student, George Dicer is considered by both his professors and his peers to be exceptionally intelligent and studious. Unlike some other students, George is very thorough in his work, showing how truly passionate and interested he is in his fields of study. As articulate and personable as he is though, he prefers not to socialize much, spending most of his time in his room, ruminating about things. Although he doesn’t start conversations, he’s able to hold them in an engaging manner once started by someone else.

* No matter how many years go by, George is still that young curious boy he’s always been since his early life, bound and determined to dissect every problem he encounters, so he can analyze all the complex intricacies inside and fully understand its inner-workings. Then, with his new clarity, he can come up with a solution to assemble everything back into the right place. His problem-solving skills developed back when he would observe his father assembling and disassembling clock parts. Matthew would explain to his young son the process of making clocks out of mechanical parts, explaining each part’s function step-by-step. After getting George to assemble his first clock, Matthew got a faulty one to use for another demonstration. This time, he explained, they were going to work backwards. Instead of putting together a functional clock, they were going to take apart a dysfunctional clock. Matthew explained to his even more curious son that if a clock is broken, the process needs to be reversed in order to fix it. This time, George didn’t need help. He memorized the entire first process, so all he needed to do was start at the last step and stop at the first step. After only a few minutes, George fixed his first clock, much to the pride of his father. Now, into his adulthood, George still uses this method to solve everyday problems.

### **1894 – 1896**

* While writing a essay about the functions of the nervous system, George’s typewriter stops working properly. George, as usual, takes the typewriter apart piece-by-piece, and then analyzes all its properties. After taking a few notes about his findings, he essentially teaches himself how to fix a typewriter. After close inspection, he notices the material on the platen has an adhesiveness that makes it susceptible to catching dirt, dust, and other particles. After some experimentation, George finds a special polish that keeps the roller from sticking to any residue that slips in. After he finishes coating it, he assembles everything back into place with ease. When he goes back to writing his report, a sudden thought comes to mind. What if his reverse-assembling method could be used to understand the nervous system and all its complexities, and then from there pinpoint the source of neurological disorders?

* Although George’s professors disagree with his theory, they do find his work on the subject very interesting. George also takes a criminology course, which goes hand in hand with his interest in understanding the criminal mind. His theories regarding the ability to find the source of a criminal’s behavior by analyzing their brain is still considered questionable, but thought-provoking nevertheless.

### **1897 – 1899**

* While walking through the hallway, George overhears a conversation between some medical students. One of them claims that a cadaver in the anatomy classroom is a deceased convict from Blackburn Penitentiary, and when the other student doesn’t believe it, he backs himself up by confirming his father works at the prison and knows what happened. According to him, the prisoner tried to make an escape by faking his own death. Somehow, he had gotten hold of a drug to induce catalepsy (a state in which your body stiffens up and your vital signs are nearly undetectable) in order to look like a dead body. Assuming he had died in his cell, the staff sent him to the prison’s morgue. Unfortunately for the prisoner, the dose he had taken was too much, so he couldn’t snap out of it in time before the medical examiner made his incision. George retains this information throughout the rest of the day.

* Not too long after, George sneaks into the anatomy classroom, where he finds a cadaver that sticks out among the rest: a man of Asian descent who has a noticeable gash mark down his torso. George quickly makes an incision around the top of the head with his penknife, and then looks inside to observe the brain’s color, shape, texture, and many other noteworthy details. After taking notes, George plops the brain back into the head, and then covers up the flap of skin on the exposed scalp. He will continue to do this up until his last year at Ivory University, going completely unnoticed as cadavers are mainly used for other organs and procedures. It’s not until neurology becomes an even more recognized field of study that neurosurgery becomes a common medical practice. Eventually, George gets bored of studying and wants to pursue some actual work as a neurologist. After filling out an application for a position at The Shadow Mountain Asylum, he gets hired, and thus unenrolls from school to officially start his career. His parents Matthew and Abigail, who are disappointed in their son for stooping so low as to help society’s monsters and miscreants for a living, are never present for any of his graduations and will not have any involvement in his life from here on out.

## **Recap: George's College Course (1892-1899)**

**Monday, August 29, 1892 – Saturday, June 3, 1893**

* George (age 19) completes his 1st year

**Monday, August 28, 1893 – Saturday, June 2, 1894**

* George (age 20) completes his 2nd year, getting an Associate Degree

**Monday, August 27, 1894 – Saturday, June 1, 1895**

* George (age 21) completes his 3rd year

**Monday, August 26, 1895 – Saturday, June 6, 1896**

* George (age 22) completes his 4th year, getting a Bachelor’s Degree

**Monday, August 31, 1896 – Saturday, June 5, 1897**

* George (age 23) completes his 5th year

**Monday, August 30, 1897 – Saturday, June 4, 1898**

* George (age 24) completes his 6th year, getting his Master’s Degree

**Monday, August 29, 1898 – Saturday, June 3, 1899**

* George (age 25) completes his 7th year

* George (age 25) denies an 8th year of study to pursue getting actual experience in his career choice. Instead of waiting to get his Doctoral Degree, he applies for a job at The Shadow Mountain Asylum in Ebony City, where he can put his skills into practice.