Timeline

The life, as the family tells it. Every date below is in-world and fictional — a story timeline, not a history.

The hatching — in-world 1901

Don Salvatore hatches in the Old Tar Pits, the poorest borough of Fossil Bay, during the spring thaw. Family legend says he bit the midwife’s forceps in half and grinned.

The newsboy years — in-world 1915

As a hatchling he runs numbers slips for the old crews, memorizing every drop and every face. He is never short. He is never late. The old dons notice.

The docks — in-world 1921

He takes work at Bone Harbor, loading crates by night and learning the harbor’s real cargo by day. Here he meets Frankie Fossil, already an old triceratops, who teaches him the first rule: the books always balance.

The first crew — in-world 1925

With Big Al and Joey Two-Claws, he forms his own crew. Their first territory: two blocks of Raptor Street and a fish cannery that pays on time, every time, out of respect.

The Copper Scale opens — in-world 1928

The Don buys a failing jazz cellar and turns it into the Copper Scale, the lounge that becomes his headquarters, his court, and — officially — a completely legitimate business.

The Tar Pits truce — in-world 1930

After eighteen months of turf war, the Don ends the fighting with the Mammal Mob over a single dinner at the Scale. No shots. Just seating arrangements. The city calls it the Truce of the Long Table.

The Code is written — in-world 1931

In one sitting, by lamplight, the Don writes the eight rules of the family into a leather ledger. The handwriting is excellent. The penalties are not discussed at dinner.

The Raptor Street incident — in-world 1933

The Raptor Street Boys try to run their own numbers on the Don’s blocks. He responds by hiring every one of them — at wages their old boss couldn’t match — and putting their boss on the door of the Scale. The door job, the Don notes, is an honorable one.

Museum Mile — in-world 1935

The family acquires its interests on Museum Mile: galleries, auction houses, and the fossil trade, strictly legitimate. The Don develops a noted private collection and a noted public generosity.

The big fossil score — in-world 1937

A complete apex skeleton surfaces on the black market. Three crews bid. The Don hosts the auction at the Scale, takes no side, takes a commission from all three, and donates the skeleton to the museum. Everyone applauds. Everyone pays.

The sit-down — in-world 1939

Big Marla of the uptown crew demands the docks. The Don grants her a sit-down, listens for four hours, and redraws the map so she gets the piers and he keeps the harbor. She leaves satisfied. The harbor was always the valuable part.

The war years — in-world 1941

When the city fractures, the Don declares Bone Harbor neutral ground: every crew’s cargo moves, every crew pays the tariff, no crew fights on the piers. The docks prosper. Neutrality, it turns out, is a racket too.

The Professor joins — in-world 1946

A troodon with a head for figures walks into the Scale and finds three errors in the week’s books before ordering a drink. The Don hires him on the spot and has never — not once — been audited since.

Songbird debuts — in-world 1952

Lucy “Songbird” takes the stage at the Copper Scale and the room goes silent in the first four bars. The Don is seen, witnesses swear, smiling with his eyes closed. The engagement is extended indefinitely.

The undisputed years — in-world 1960

The card says undisputed, and the decade agrees: no crew challenges the Don, the truce holds, the Scale glows every night. Fossil Bay’s underworld has one address that matters.

Today — in-world present

The Don still holds court at the long table, still adjusts his cufflinks before bad news, and still has never been seen to hurry. The ellipsis after undisputed remains. The family prefers it that way.

Source notes

• All sixteen events and all dates are fan-made dramatization written 2026-09-26; every date is labeled in-world (fictional).
• The framing phrase “undisputed…” is quoted verbatim from the truncated Vizlings app card description (roster.json, 2026-09-26).