Injury and Shifting

[Leonca~]

[RedEye]

Perhaps there needs to be a differentiation applied between Accelerated Healing and Regeneration. They are very similar in what they do, to the point that one can be mistaken for the other.

My take is:
Accelerated Healing is the ability to heal injuries faster than what would be considered normal. A WW is shot, and ten minutes later is healed of the injury. The bullet is ejected from the wound as tissues heal under it, and a scar may or may not form at the entry point. Amputated parts don't regrow, but the wound or stump heals quickly and allows the injured person to keep going, minus what was lost.

Regeneration is the constant replacement of damaged tissues for whatever reason. Whatever is lost will regrow. The downside is that the creature who does this needs huge amounts of food to support the regenerative processes going on in their bodies. The upside is that this creature is physically immortal, since age is the result of constant loss and non-replacement of body parts and systems, so there is no physical appearance of age or the aging process.
Regenerators do not scar: scars are the body's "duct tape" for injuries; where the body simply seals off the site as being too expensive of energy to heal properly.

This is my theory of the difference. Werewolves would seem to be fast healers, not regenerators; in most stories and movies.

[Vagrant]

Believe it or not, my favourite method is Kirkman's, and it was actually the method I favoured even before I read Wolf-man, but I'd never actually seen it done in popular media before.

Sooo... for those that haven't read Wolf-man, I'll explain.

The werewolves can regenerate, even to the point of having their organs torn out and inspected before being dropped next to their bodies, they have a superhuman means of regeneration then. This isn't uncommon, but it does make them overpowered.

The way it's counterbalanced is that an injury causes fatigue, the bigger the injury, the greater the effect. So having one's guts torn out and then shifting to heal the effect can basically cause the werewolf in question to pass out right after the shift, they'll be fully healed but the effort was so great that they'll probably be out for a couple of days.

I admit, I do have some superhero in my werewolf, but regeneration for werewolves is hardly unheard of, and I tend to base it off the fact that Wolves are enduring creatures, they're hardy and they can take a lot, with my werewolves that's true but supernaturally so. Still puts 'em out like a light, though. Or for smaller injuries, it's going to make them tired.

[JoshuaMadoc]

I think you guys forgot to mention about defects, genetic or whatever, that would make regenerative systems go to s*** and malfunction in ways that would make any significant wound be vulnerable to "mutations", or even death. Say you smashed your hand by accident and your fingers are all misplaced. If you have this defect, chances are your hands will be even more distorted when the system thinks it's done enough "regenerating"...

Kind of similar to that one defect that calcifies muscles in some circumstance, what was it called again?

[Wingman]

Injuries might develop into cancerous tissues, stuck in "Heal" mode even after the would itself is healed. Or, toxins in the wound itself could be sealed into the body, or spread far and wide by lightening fast cell division.

I've also never really understood the whole "Bullets will be pushed out." thing. Last I checked, that's the reverse order of how the wound will heal. I've had pebbles, tiny rocks, and dirt all be trapped under my skin due to improperly cleaning scrapes and wounds before slapping on a bandage and running back outside. They don't pop out, at least to any more of a degree than being close enough to the surface that they might eventually wear through. People have had bullets and shrapnel stuck in them decades, so even with quickened healing I doubt foreign objects would be expelled.
Even if a were heals/regens very quickly, the process would likely take weeks, or days, above and beyond healing the actual wound. The wound scabs over to stop bleeding, and then goes from there.
The Werewolf: The Forsaken game line by White Wolf has a lengthy section devoted to this.
One very interesting thing is that the Uratha can exert willpower to force certain wounds to be ignored/healed first.

I recall LKH as having handled this nicely, as her vamps/weres had to act quickly unless they wanted to need to bust out the knives and tweezers afterward to go digging for stuff like bullets so they're not setting off metal detectors left right and center. I remember one occasion where a were's wound nearly engulfed the shirt they were pressing against it to slow the bleeding.

[Gevaudan]

Kind of similar to that one defect that calcifies muscles in some circumstance, what was it called again?

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva. The victim "turns to stone", and there's no real cure for it. Autosomal dominant.

[Cyberwatt]

One type of injury that is often overlooked, misdiagnosed in the medical community, and which, depending on the nature of the werewolf's transformation, may affect his ability to change: traumatic brain injury (TBI to the human services community).

In a normal human, nerve damage does not heal and neither does brain trauma. The best the brain can do is to reroute existing neural pathways, bypassing the injured areas and attempting to compensate with the remaining undamaged nerves. Several things usually result in these cases: memory loss, loss of skills, alteration of emotional response, and even metanoia (personality change).

For a werewolf, it would have to depend on how he changes. Those with supernatural origins might bypass this life-altering experience, but those who have more mundane backgrounds may experience nasty side effects. For example, let us say that a werewolf's transformation is based on the release of dopamine or serotonin (influenced by the moon, if you wish): damage or alteration to the prefrontal cortex or ventromedial frontal lobe might make the lycanthrope change uncontrollably!

[RedEye]

In response to the not understanding of how a bullet could be "pushed out", let me explain.

I over simplified things. Healing starts in the undamaged tissues under and around the bullet, and if it is close enough to the skin; then it's expelled. Otherwise, it simply encysts (is contained within a sealed pocket of tissue) and troubles the WW no more.
Remember, for this sort if healing to happen, you aren't dealing with "normal" processes. You are dealing with a modification of those processes, which includes a much higher "self" sense within the body cells, and the physical rejection of any "non-self" object.

Which means that Werewolves can't have hip-replacement surgery.

Cuts, scratches, and the like heal within moments: remember, this is healing on steroids, with the natural increase in energy needs to fuel it.

Werewolves (as was mentioned in another forum) represent a more-survivable lifeform than humanity. They are just tougher and harder to kill. Which means that they probably do a lot of physical humor and think it's really funny; which human ovservers mistake for a violent and agressive nature.

And yes, genetic abnormality would be a real killer among them.

[Grey]

I think it depends on your views of what a were-wolf is, and how they heal.

[WolfeGuardian]

I always believed that the human who is wolf and has sustained injuries will turn into it's wolf form to heal it's body but the injury it sustains while in were it carries to human as well but will steal heal quicker if the wolf stays in wolf form idk lol but thats my thought

[ABrownrigg]

Victor/Victoriafang

A male werewolf, pretending to be a human, pretending to be a female werewolf.

I'm in agreement with statements that shifting rapidly intensifies healing. so much is being broken down, and healed just during the transformation itself both to wolf AND to human. Missing limbs? I'd have to agree for the long term option. Yes, but a long time.

AB

[Wingman]

Victor/Victoriafang

A male werewolf, pretending to be a human, pretending to be a female werewolf.

How avant-garde.

I've always sorta wondered if the shapeshifting and the regeneration are the same. What I mean is: Assume the werewolf has a 'template' for what they are supposed to be. Changing that template would result in their bodies seeing "wrongness" and 'fixing' it. Though, theoretically this would allow for more than just human-wolf transformations, but it's an interesting idea.

[Terastas]

Changing that template would result in their bodies seeing "wrongness" and 'fixing' it. Though, theoretically this would allow for more than just human-wolf transformations, but it's an interesting idea.

It's something I toyed around with and have mentioned in a few threads already: the idea that lycanthropy is only programmed to repair the host, but isn't sophisticated enough to recognize that it has a new host of a different species and occasionally tries to "repair" the host's many "deformities" back into what it has been programmed to accept as the norm.

Assuming lycanthropy evolves at the same pace as other viruses, it could produce a variant which accepts the human host but will trigger a similar "species confusion" syndrome if passed on to another species. That would open up the possibility for any number of werecreatures to develop in turn.

[Sharfan]

Just poking at this dead thread, since I wasn't around to give my two cents worth.

I personally like the healing of injuries when shifting. My opinion has been pretty much covered.

On the subject of healing bullet wounds while the bullet is still inside. Wouldn't be pretty cool if the werewolf could heal from the inside going out, essentially pushing the bullet out through its entrance point. Just an idea.