Image by Colin Purrington via FlickrImagine with me for a moment something that I think you won't accept as real. Imagine a world where hominids did not win the evolutionary race to dominance. It's not the most likely time stream after the hominids develop opposable thumbs, of course, but then the idea that evolution can diverge across time streams might be something you hadn't considered yet.
When I was earning my second undergraduate degree, the one I got from the University itself, I took a class on evolutionary biology. The professor cited Anachronism data that showed a time stream where humans' primary evolutionary competitors came to the forefront instead of humans. This other animal had an intelligent mind, a social mentality, and was a most effective hunter. This animal was the wolf. The main reason that wolves and humans did not turn out the other way around in your time stream is right on the edge of your hand; they lacked the opposable thumb.
Today, imagine a time stream where they did not. I have (mostly) translated this species' quirks to make the piece more accessible. The only word I cannot translate is the name "Rolf," though it's curious that this name appears in both wolven as well as German, though they have very different meanings. Since the wolves are deeply religious, it's been easy to find analogs for other names. For example, a wolf name meaning "the first wolf" is easily replaced with "Adam."
Always,
Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople
Julie [Orig: "Young One"] clambered up the ramp outside the temple. [Reversed knees would not handle steps well]
