Spooncraft

Alright time for a little lore wanking. As I’ve stated ten thousand times already, I am a very large lore freak. Akin to the kind of people yiffing at comic conventions over cat ears, lore just gives me a reason to enjoy playing the game. There’s a poll going on right now and the grand lot of you (myself included) are voting for Pandarens as the most desired playable race. The last place are the lonely Worgen. Hell if they brought Worgen and Pandaren into the game at the same time as playable I think my head would explode due to the inability to decide which I should play.

But as they are on the bottom and new developments have been brought to light with Wrath involving the Worgens, let’s look at them in a little more detail. After the break and this short little video (WHICH IS NOT OFFICIAL AND WAS DONE WITH A MODEL CHANGER) we’ll look at the lore and history behind Worgen as well as the argument that they can be a playable race with some minor modifications and some added story.

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You start off seeing them pretty early on in your leveling career be it in Duskwood, Ashenvale, or Silverpine Forest. They’re a big fan favorite and Shadowfang Keep happens to be one of the most popular low level instances in the game. Players have made fan arts depicting models and artwork to scale that would fit a Worgen playable race.

Worgen are large, wolf-like humanoids reminiscent of a werewolf that walks upright, but lopes on all fours to run. According to sources held by the undead, the worgen come from another dimension, and exist only to terrorize and destroy. These creatures 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.

Most worgen keep their wolf-like forms at all times, but experiments by the mage Arugal has 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.

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 color, unblinking and devoid of any discernable emotion other than hunger.

Cursed beings from another dimension, worgen only appear in Azeroth as the result of magical mishaps. True aberrations, they are accidentally drawn through temporary rift tunnels and deposited in this world with no apparent way of returning. Nothing is known about the worgen’s home realm, or even precisely how to spawn the rift tunnels through which they come.

Worgen are usually encountered in small packs near sites of recent intense magical activity. 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 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.

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

Ur, a mage of Dalaran, did research on worgen but never summoned them. 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. The summoned worgen fought against the undead armies, but quickly turned on the wizards themselves. Driven mad with guilt, Arugal adopted the worgen as his children and retreated to the newly dubbed Shadowfang Keep, where he then cursed the village people of Pyrewood to turn into worgen whenever the sun went down.

Approximately at the same time, the night elf Sentinel Velinde Starsong was given the task to clear Felwood of demons. She prayed to Elune and was granted a magical Scythe which could summon worgen. She summoned larger numbers 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 intervention for the summoning process. So she ordered them 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 her fate was unknown, but it was rumored that she was killed in Duskwood and lost the Scythe. Black Riders from Deadwind Pass came to Duskwood looking for the Scythe and murdered a family of farmers in the search to find it. 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.

In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Arthas has discovered Arugal’s activities and has brought him back from the dead to work for him. This also means that there are a lot of Worgen allied with the Scourge in Northrend and in particular, the Grizzly Hills.

Here is an example of a fan work where a Worgen female concept has been rendered crudely.

How this translates to them being a possible player race? In the game files (via wow model viewer and even some event sin game) Worgen have talk emotes, they can use a multitude of weapons although they’re unarmed in the game as is. Animations exist for everything from saluting to sitting on a mount. As well with the news of the Wolvar faction of sentient wolves in Northrend one can only conclude that it’s a possibility.

Also if you check out Pyrewood Village, it’s an Alliance friendly town during the day. Pyrewood Village is an Alliance town north of the King’s Road in Silverpine Forest. The village is a settlement inhabited by a group of humans who have survived the coming of the Scourge, though not without paying a large price. The town survived the plague first due to the efforts of the blood elves, and later due to the military aid of Dalaran.

Pyrewood’s inhabitants have been cursed so that they undergo a nightly transformation into the bestial worgen,(Measured just recently at 8:59pm-9:00pm server time.) then return to their human forms upon the arrival of the dawn. It is during this time that they become hostile to all players regardless of faction. Despite all its hardships however, the town continues to service Alliance travellers, selling cloth, leather, and mail armor to customers.

To recap: Worgen have tons of player emotes and actions built into them. They are a fan favorite and have a rich and mysterious storyline. Checking the World map you’ll see an empty spot of land PERFECT for a Horde starting area that is near Tirisfall Glades (undead starting zone) and north of Silverpine. As well the country of Gilneas was once human, was immune to the Scourge because they locked the entire place down. There are also a lot of more Alliance friendly (for now) humans stationed at the barred gates to Gilneas that turn into Worgen at night.