I am creating a Worgen character to play, and working on his backstory has brought forward a question that I cannot seem to find a solid answer for.
When deciding his birthplace, I decided I didn’t want him to hail from gilneas proper, but from somewhere else (Possibly Duskwood).
Basically my question is, can the Worgen from Duskwood control their curse and turn back and forth? Or is there any questlines that prove they are Worgen Humans (And not just Night elves, as I previously believed).
While the Duskwood worgen aren’t Gilneans, there are Gilnean worgen trying to save the ones that still retain some shred of humanity. I’m not exactly sure how the worgen curse was brought to Duskwood, but the Duskwood quest chain does involve capturing and stabilizing the worgen man known as Sam Yorgen (quite the rhyme here, heh heh). So it’s absolutely possible that other hapless humans may have been bitten and turned by the Duskwood worgen, and later stabilized and returned to sanity thanks to the efforts of the Gilnean researchers.
Likewise, it’s also possible they could have been a renegade from Arugal’s Wolf Cult (more difficult to pull off but doable), or could have been a traveler that happened to be near Gilneas when the worgen were running wild. It’s also possible they could have willingly accepted the curse, similar to the members of the Bloodfang Pack(Gilneans of Silverpine who became worgen to gain immunity from being turned to Forsaken upon death).
In short–there’s several routes to pick from aside from the standard story offered in the worgen starter quests. Which option is best will hinge heavily on the kind of character story you wish to pursue.
I’m a big fan of characters that weren’t afflicted in Gilneas; there’s tons of potential for development for where they got it, too. In the end, all it takes is either some alchemy, or a druid’s help, and bam - control over their form, so feel free to be creative!
There’s potential to use the grizzly hills worgen stuff, the Gilneas bits, the Silverpine bits, the Duskwood bits, and now even Val’sharah since there are feral worgen all over that (and also tied to the Emerald Dream).
There’s no reason a Worgen from just about anywhere couldn’t regain control of themselves. The Worgen from Gilneas initially gain control of themselves back through Alchemy in Gilneas, and then go through the ritual to regain themselves entirely, though obviously they remain Worgen, but they can return to human form at least.
The questline in Duskwood has the Gilneans there helping the local Worgen in exactly the same way - through alchemy, once they’ve been captured. Once they have some control back, then can then go on to undertake the same ritual the rest of them took.
In fact, this character was actually bitten in Grizzly Hills. I came up with some (admittedly questionable) plot contrivances to delay things long enough, but eventually he ended up captured by his enemies when he finally went feral, was unleashed on his friends, who subdued him, and got him the help he needed to get back to himself. And that sequence of events has given me a lot of ammo for character development over the years - to the point where it was only within the last few months that it was pointed out to me that I’d rather unintentionally written him into having PTSD about the events.
The Bloodfang of Gilneas
In the Curse of the Worgen comic, it is revealed that the attacking worgen aren’t rabid beasts, but a Wolf Cult capable of using human form to infiltrate Gilneas. They are shown more than once in the comic to shift back and forth depending on the need, like when Halford Ramsey chased some “humans” into the Blackwald, only for one of them to turn around and bite him.
The Nightbane of Duskwood
In the comic Dark Riders, it is revealed the worgen of Duskwood are yet another branch of the Wolf Cult, with the same capabilities and even the exact same form of initiation. While we never see these shapeshift in front of us, like we see the Bloodfang do in the Curse of the Worgen comic, we do see a human initiate that escaped to Goldshire instead of being bitten. In addition, we see numerous other intelligent Nightbane worgen characters. No alchemy required.
The Bloodmoon of Northrend
In addition, adding to Harmarth’s note about the Grizzly Hills, the Bloodmoon worgen in the area have absolutely no problem changing back and forth from human to worgen form. Quests reveal that they have been worgen the whole time you have been doing quests for them, which explains why they have a wolfsbane “allergy”, why their vendors sell meat with bite marks in them, and why they’re having you go scalp that orc; initiation.
Mine was from Lordaeron, particularly Tirisfal Glades. Her story was a little different: she was a Scarlet Crusade cleric who got infected but carefully hid her dark secret.
The worgen death knight PC is from Arugal’s pack (presumably Tirisfal), because those were close to the only ones that predated Wrath. So worgen from elsewhere aren’t completely unherad of.
There was also a quest where some guys were offered the worgen curse to avoid being raised as Forsaken, so new ones aren’t unheard of either. You’d just have to gloss over the Gilneas intro zone.