Worgen

Worgen are large, lupine humanoids reminiscent of a werewolf that walks upright, but lopes on all fours to run.

Origin
Long ago, amid a brutal war between the night elves and the demonic satyrs in Kalimdor, a group of druids practiced a powerful yet unwieldy form that embodied the fury of the wolf Ancient, Goldrinn. Taught by Ralaar Fangfire, these Druids of the Pack sought to temper the uncontrollable rage inherent in their chosen form. To do so, they willingly submitted to the energies of the Scythe of Elune, a mystical artifact created from Goldrinn’s fang and the staff of Elune.

Rather than abate the druids’ fury, however, the weapon transformed Ralaar and his followers into worgen: bestial humanoids enslaved by their own primal instincts. Blinded by all-consuming rage, Ralaar’s druids tore through friend and foe alike during battle with the satyrs. Night elves wounded by the unruly beasts contracted a virulent curse that turned them into worgen as well. Desperate to stanch the affliction’s spread, Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage mournfully banished the worgen to a pocket dimension of the Emerald Dream, where they would be in peaceful slumber for all eternity.

Release
Years later, several individuals started investigating about the worgen. Ur, a mage of Dalaran, did research on worgen but never summoned them. He found out that the worgen seemed to hail from a dark and treacherous world, from which there was no corner which was truly safe. Another of these individuals was Archmage Arugal. Frustrated by the destruction of Dalaran by the Scourge and against the advice of his peers, Archmage Arugal elected to summon an army of the extra-dimensional entities by using Ur's research. With King Genn Greymane's blessing, these original worgen -- cursed druids from Azeroth's ancient past -- were then released from their prison.

The summoned worgen fought at first against the undead armies, but quickly turned on the wizards themselves. Unfortunately, the methods of removing them from their prison did not appear to be reversible, which left the insane druids unfettered and unrestrained. The curse of the worgen rapidly spread among the human population, transforming ordinary men and women into ravenous, feral creatures. They sieged the keep of the noble Baron Silverlaine. Situated above the tiny hamlet of Pyrewood, the keep quickly fell into shadow and ruin.

Driven mad with guilt, Arugal adopted the worgen as his children and retreated to Silverlaine's former mansion, the estate now known as Shadowfang Keep. He then cursed the village people of Pyrewood to turn into worgen whenever the sun went down. The curse, however, was not contained.

At approximately the same time, the night elf Sentinel Velinde Starsong was given the task of clearing Felwood of demons. She prayed to Elune and was granted the Scythe of Elune, which had been the tool for the creation of the original worgen, and which could also summon worgen. Velinde received a vision after touching the scythe, in which the worgen battled an unflinching enemy, Lords of the Emerald Flame, in a vicious war. In reality, the Lords were the satyr that had fought against the night elves and worgen in the War of the Satyr.

Using the Scythe of Elune, Velinde was able to summon a very large number of worgen to fight at her side against the demons. Later Velinde began to notice that some of her force were unaccounted for. It was as though the Scythe of Elune no longer required her presence to perform the summoning process. Perplexed by this development, she ordered the remaining worgen to remain at the Shrine of Mel'Thandris in Ashenvale and began to search for Archmage Arugal, whom she had heard also summoned worgen. From that point on her fate became a mystery, but it was rumored that she was killed in Duskwood and lost the Scythe of Elune. Black Riders from Deadwind Pass came to Duskwood looking for the Scythe and murdered a family of farmers in the search to find it. The Terrowulf worgen tribe stayed at the Shrine in Ashenvale for a while, and eventually left, though it is not known where they went.

It is also known that the dark mage Morganth was searching for the Scythe of Elune, and stole Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic as well.

Wrath of the Lich King
Eventually, Arugal was killed, and the worgen under his protection turned to live on the wilds of Silverpine Forest. In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Arthas discovered Arugal's activities and brought him back from the dead to work for him. This also meant that several worgen under Arugal's command, the Bloodmoon worgen, allied with the Scourge in Northrend, staying in particular in the Grizzly Hills.

Cataclysm


In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, it is revealed that the worgen curse has spread into the secluded kingdom of Gilneas, transforming many of its inhabitants into worgen, called the Greymane worgen. However, with the help of their night elf allies, they have developed a partial cure to the curse which allows them to retain their sanity even while transformed.

After the Shattering, the Greymane Wall was destroyed, allowing the Forsaken to attack and invade Gilneas unhindered. The Greymane worgen have been fighting the Forsaken in Gilneas and Silverpine Forest ever since, but most of their non-worgen citizens had to flee Gilneas to the safety of Darnassus. The night elves, who created the curse in the first place, felt obliged to help the Greymane worgen. They created a dwelling in Darnassus for them to seek refuge in as the war for their home rages on. Afterwords, Gilneas was re-introduced to the Alliance.

The Gilneans, many of which are now infected with the worgen curse, are now found across the world, fighting for the Alliance in the Southern Barrens, Ashenvale, Felwood, and many other areas of the world. In Silverpine, former rebel leader Darius Crowley is leading the Worgen offensive to defend Gilneas, with the help of Ivar Bloodfang and the Bloodfang pack. Recently however, Sylvanas Windrunner agents kidnapped his daughter Lorna Crowley, holding her for ransom in exchange for Crowley's surrender. Darius ultimately chose to surrender and fled into Gilneas. However Bloodfang continues to the fight against the Forsaken in the Hillsbrad Foothills and has even recruited the aid of the Stormpike Guard.

Many Worgen have taken up the druidic arts as a way to cope with their transformation, to help control their animalistic side or even to learn more about themselves and the powers that helped their race begin.

Description
Resembling a cross between human and dire wolf, the hunched over creature is roughly humanoid. Its body is covered in coarse, grayish-black fur with twitching claws and snarling teeth. The creature's eyes are mottled yellow in colour, unblinking and devoid of any discernible emotion other than hunger.

The worgen are thoroughly evil, delighting in torturing and devouring intelligent creatures. They enjoy hearing the screams of their victims as they tear them apart piece by piece. Worgen never show mercy or remorse. They may seem savage, but they are fairly intelligent and possess a cruel bestial cunning that can come as a surprise to the unprepared. Worgen society is patriarchal, with the eldest male leading the pack. Worgen never challenge leadership; the patriarch leads until he is physically incapable of doing so any longer, at which point his younger kin devour him. The worgen see this not as cruelty, but a great honor — they consume the bodies of their fallen unlike that of their victim's bodies. They believe the flesh and blood of their own kind improves their strength and cunning. Worgen look like humanoid wolves. They dwell in simple huts and usually wear cured leather scraps as rudimentary armor. Worgen do not use weapons, preferring to tear foes apart with their claws. They stand 6 feet tall, except when loping along on all fours, and weigh around 250 pounds. They speak their own language, made up of a variety of growls, barks, and howls.

Most worgen keep their wolf-like forms at all times, but experiments by the mage Arugal have resulted in human/worgen "hybrids" who only appear as worgen under the light of the moon. They carry with them a dark, corrupting malaise that grows wherever they infest, making the surrounding area dark and gloomy.

Worgen are among the few humanoids that can be skinned.



Fiercely territorial creatures, they rarely stray from the general vicinity of the place in which they first appeared. Fearless beasts, they brazenly prowl near both villages and monster lairs. Although worgen display an apparent fondness for nighttime and its darkness, they can perform equally well in the daytime.

Pure killing beasts, worgen tend to attack any creatures that they encounter, regardless of whether animal, humanoid, Scourge or something even more fearsome. Strangely, however, worgen refuse to feed on the remains of their victims, preferring to shred and tear the corpses and then to return immediately to prowling. Rumors suggest that worgen somehow receive sustenance continually from their native dimension... as well as guidance from a distant force.

Worgen are usually encountered in small packs near sites of recent intense magical activity. A pack may contain four to twelve individuals. A worgen tribe may contain between twenty and two hundred individuals.

The reason for the worgen refusing to devour most of their victims may be some lingering vestige of sanity in the worgen's minds.

Combat
Worgen prefer to hide in shadows before leaping great distances upon their foes. They attack with feral tenacity, slashing with their deadly claws and biting with sharp, infectious fangs. Worgen are nearly fearless and typically fight to the death, relying on their regeneration to save them.

Worgen love nothing more than to pounce on an opponent and tear him to ribbons. If a foe is helpless, the worgen delivers a coup de grace before moving on to another target, unless the fight is well in hand. Then it turns to torture (or "playtime") — and the unfortunate victim is almost certain to wish he had died.

The saliva of a worgen carries a dangerous infection that can prove deadly against those who are bitten.



Worgen groups

 * Alliance
 * Greymane - Playable race found in various areas of the world, homeland in Gilneas
 * Bloodfang - Found in Gilneas and Silverpine Forest, supporters of the Gilneas Liberation Front
 * Hillsbrad Worgen - Found in Fenris Isle, these former humans of Lordaeron have chosen to become worgen in order to support the Gilneas Liberation Front in their war against the Forsaken


 * Scourge
 * Wolfcult/Bloodmoon - Found in the Grizzly Hills


 * Independent/Hostile
 * Gilnean Wolfcult - A worgen cult found in Gilneas, searching for the Scythe of Elune
 * Brashwater Crew - A group of worgen pirates
 * Lycanthoth - Found in Mount Hyjal
 * Nightbane - Found in Duskwood
 * Moonrage - Found in Silverpine Forest
 * Shadowfang - Found in Shadowfang Keep
 * Terrowulf - Found in Ashenvale Forest

Inspiration
The worgen bear a strong resemblance to the "Myrkridia" from Bungie's Myth II: Soulblighter (a contemporary of Starcraft), especially the idea of them being from another dimension. Beside that, the worgen obviously resemble a werewolf as it is known in popular fiction, particularly the part where they managed to get the curse under control and only changed when the moon was up.

Hunter pet
was a tamable pet during 3.1 until a hotfix was deployed on 7 July, shortly after the discovery was widely known on the internet. During this time, the tamed Garwal pets were no longer an effective pet as they were stripped of their abilities and could not even be fed.

Community Manager Zarhym responded on the forums shortly after the hotfix with this statement:

On 21 July, the Garwal skin (appearance) was changed to a normal white worg for all players who had tamed him, and normal pet abilities were restored for those players.

Gallery
=See also=
 * Tainted one
 * The Book of Ur
 * Jitters' Completed Journal
 * Velinde's Journal
 * Torment of the Worgen
 * Faded Journal
 * Werewolf
 * Garwal