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Description
This was a commission from Patreon that is not canon to the Serina project as it is presented on the website, but is a look into an alternate reality.

Woodcrafters got a bad lot in the game of life, evolving into thinking and feeling sapients just thousands of years before severe climate change brought about the destruction of the habitat they were specialized to depend upon. When the time came to break away from long-held behaviors and their ancient lifestyle, the last woodcrafters waited too long. They eventually followed the gravediggers to the sea coast and there found edible seaweed in abundance. But it was too late then for their kind - there were none left young enough to bear offspring, and their species died out with a whisper until just Ember, the endling, remained.

But imagine another timeline where the woodcrafters were bolder. They saw the destruction of the forest refugia, but didn't sit idly by. They migrated much sooner, a thousand years before it became wholly uninhabitable. They found the sea coast with the gravediggers, not after. The vegetation of the icebox seaway, washed ashore by the daily tides, sustained them with a rich diet, and they learned new ways. They got over the instinctive apprehension of unstable surfaces their land-lubbing kind felt and learned ride boats over the waves to new lands. Over longer timescales, their bodies changed; they became smaller, to more easily ride on small boats. They developed shorter, sturdier legs, and longer, thicker hair to insulate against the cold water. Slower-growing teeth, now rounded and less sharp. Longer toes, able to grip, and webbed to swim. Their once spike-like dewclaw grew longer, becoming a primitive thumb. A large tear gland evolved in front of their eyes to sequester and remove the sea salt from their diet. Their front legs became additional, albeit less dexterous, hands for tasks such as boat-weaving. Their culture grew ever more intertwined with others as they met new minds from the world under the water. 5 million years after they lost the race of extinction in the world we knew them, here they gave rise to a new species well-adapted to life on the sea.
In another world, their story would go on.

Description
This was a commission from Patreon that is not canon to the Serina project as it is presented on the website, but is a look into an alternate reality.

Woodcrafters got a bad lot in the game of life, evolving into thinking and feeling sapients just thousands of years before severe climate change brought about the destruction of the habitat they were specialized to depend upon. When the time came to break away from long-held behaviors and their ancient lifestyle, the last woodcrafters waited too long. They eventually followed the gravediggers to the sea coast and there found edible seaweed in abundance. But it was too late then for their kind - there were none left young enough to bear offspring, and their species died out with a whisper until just Ember, the endling, remained.

But imagine another timeline where the woodcrafters were bolder. They saw the destruction of the forest refugia, but didn't sit idly by. They migrated much sooner, a thousand years before it became wholly uninhabitable. They found the sea coast with the gravediggers, not after. The vegetation of the icebox seaway, washed ashore by the daily tides, sustained them with a rich diet, and they learned new ways. They got over the instinctive apprehension of unstable surfaces their land-lubbing kind felt and learned ride boats over the waves to new lands. Over longer timescales, their bodies changed; they became smaller, to more easily ride on small boats. They developed shorter, sturdier legs, and longer, thicker hair to insulate against the cold water. Slower-growing teeth, now rounded and less sharp. Longer toes, able to grip, and webbed to swim. Their once spike-like dewclaw grew longer, becoming a primitive thumb. A large tear gland evolved in front of their eyes to sequester and remove the sea salt from their diet. Their front legs became additional, albeit less dexterous, hands for tasks such as boat-weaving. Their culture grew ever more intertwined with others as they met new minds from the world under the water. 5 million years after they lost the race of extinction in the world we knew them, here they gave rise to a new species well-adapted to life on the sea.
In another world, their story would go on.