From Darkness It Comes

Dean Gabriel Newton Satterholm

Gabriel Newton Satterholm was born in France in 1782, to parents Liam and Monique Satterholm. His mother died a week later due to complications incurred during childbirth. His father raised him as best he could, although his house staff did most of the work. His youth was mostly spent in luxury and splendor, with the best of schools and treatment.

When he reached his 18th year he struck out on his own, but with a sizable piece of his father's fortune to aid in his ventures. Most of his early attempts at business failed, mostly due to his lack of interest soon after starting them, but this changed in 1806. The Napoleonic Wars were building again and this time near where he called his home. He was put into a position of joining in on the wars or escaping the country. Unfortunately this second offer would mean losing the comforts that come from his connection to his father and his fortune. He chose to strike out on his own in the new world.

After living in New York for ten years and slowly building himself up (first as a copy clerk and eventually running his own book store) he had gained himself a nice clientele of well-reselected men and scholars. Some of them eventually even became his friends. In 1821 he and six of these others formed a scholarly and writing group known as the Ersatz Intellects.

At first the Ersatz Intellects simply shared stories and talked intellectual theories with each other, but had no real objective other than to gather together, drink, and talk. After several years they decided to do something more important with their time so it wouldn't seem like they were just wasting time. They pooled their resources, money, and contacts to form an organization dedicated to raising intellectual study and education.

In 1829 they started to look for a location to build their dream. They wanted to create a new college, where they could form the way their combined knowledge could be spread to the youth. Something that would rival the great schools of the old world. It took them over a year to find the land they would eventually use, but they couldn't agree on it. Satterholm was the one who actually found it and nearly seemed obsessed with the land, having been quoted as saying "We were destined to find this place and build here. We have no other choice." Five of the others eventually agreed to buy the land, but Annabelle Florentine (the only female member of the Ersatz Intellects) left the group over the subject.

The land, once the home of an old town known as Port Chupa, was purchased early in 1832 and ground was broken almost immediately. Satterholm seemed to be involved in every moment of the building and helped to design and plan the layout for the grounds and even some of the buildings. He stopped the building of structure because it was, according to him, four inches and 3 degrees off from where it should have been. What was there was torn down and rebuilt to eventually form the first library of the university.

Although construction of all the buildings was not finished until 1837, the Northern State University opened its doors in August of 1834. The first year's class was a mere 87 students, but within four years the university had over 3000 full time students and it just kept growing. Gabriel Satterholm became the schools first Dean, but was only really active in this role for the first couple years. It was at this time he started to shun others and turned away from his duties as Dean, leaving the responsibility to the four Jr. Deans (made up of four of the other founders).

Little is actually known of what Satterholm did with his time during this period of his life, but before he became impossible to see he stated to become obsessed with the occult and the local folklore. His office became a museum of ancient occult artifacts and he would often be seen wandering the ground at night mumbling things to himself in strange languages. He let his hair grow wild and didn't seem to change clothing sometimes for days on end, but by the middle of 1838 he was rarely ever actually seen.

He practically lived in his office, having meals and requested books and items brought to him, but left in the waiting room in front of his office for him to retrieve later. There were some reports of strange sounds and lights emanating from his office at times, but nothing was ever done to find out more since he always had more requests the next day, letting everyone know he was still in there and active. That was until November 8th 1840, the last day he was ever seen or there was even any evidence of his existence.

That day he came out of his office, much to the shock of everyone, and called a meeting of the remaining founders. He was dressed well, clean-shaven, and looked to be in good health, but some reports say his eyes were still sunken and dark despite the rest of his appearance. What transpired in that meeting is a mystery that was never known, since none of the founders ever talked, but after the meeting he gather some items from around the school and retired to his office for the evening. He was never seen again.

Exactly what he gathered is unknown, but an incomplete list was gathered by a group of interested students who called themselves the Jr. Ersatz's. The list is to follow. The Jr. Ersatz's seemed to be the only ones truly interested in trying to figure out what happened, spending the rest of their years at school trying to uncover the mystery. The police dropped the matter after the other founders spoke to them, and the founders did everything they could stop all student investigations and destroy all evidence of what Satterholm was up to. His name was even removed from all but one document, the list of original founders (which also included Annabelle, even though she left before then).

The Jr. Ersatz's Incomplete List:
Corner Brick of the Ferndale Building
Candle holder from the Main Office wall
Medieval Tapestry from the library
Bucket of coal from the Allcroft Building furnace
Three bottles of alcohol from the Stall Lounge
Something small from inside the main sign out front
Something from the Chemistry Lab
At least 3 others