Limb Regeneration

Celestialwolf · Post by **Celestialwolf** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:32 am

I know we've probably had similar topics discussed, but if someone lost a limb as a werewolf, would it regenerete? I think so.
And, what if somebody already has a limb missing from an accident or something, gets bitten by a werewolf, and then shifts. Would the limb be restored then? I think yes on this too. What do you think?
This has been on my mind lately as I know a few people with limbs missing from accidents.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:37 am

*walks up to a werewolf and cuts off the tail*

BOINK!!

Oh look!! It grew back!!!

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:04 am

Uhh I dont think we should discuss on this, we had plenty of this talk on another topic......Velkacis and Vuldari can show you.

white · Post by **white** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:22 am

But we've only discussed it indirectly. I think we should come to a decision, or at least find out what the majority is.

I'm in favor of a sort of 'yes'. Anything not vital to the minute-to-minute operation of the body should be regeneratable, but limbs and other such large bits should take quite a while to do so.

Morkulv · Post by **Morkulv** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:51 am

PariahPoet · Post by **PariahPoet** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:50 am

Werewolves regenerating? :-/ Nah, maybe a were-lizzard or were-starfish....

Lupin · Post by **Lupin** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 am

It depends on the werewolf. Magical werewolves would have a higher ability to regenerate things than other werewolves, I think.

PariahPoet · Post by **PariahPoet** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:41 pm

Yeah, I guess it depends on origin. I do, however like the idea of accelerated healing for werewolves.

Vuldari · Post by **Vuldari** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:36 pm

Other...

It totally depends on the qualities and origin of the Werewolf. Some magical/supernatural Werewolves could regenerate from almost anything, I'd imagine.

However, as a matter of personal preference and perspective, I'd say extremely limited regenerative capabilities.

Fingertip...yes.

Whole finger...maybe.

Entire hand...No.

I could see things like the earlobes growing back if chopped off, and large crippling wounds healing much better than any human could, but if the leg gets chopped off at the knee...it's not comming back.

Major injuries to internal organs would heal, but not perfectly. (Unless it is an "instantly fatal" injury, such as to the heart or brain)

The tail...hmmm...since it grows in it's entirety with each shift, I can see how that could be an exeption, partially. It would depend on whether or not the base virtibre (which exist on the human tailbone as well) are damaged or not. Otherwise, I think having only half of it broken off would allow it to grow back fully at the next shift.

...it all depends on what kind of werewolf it is, however.

Set · Post by **Set** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:01 pm

Ugh, regenerating werewolves are as unappealing to me as wall climbing ones. If you were talking about lizards then yeah, but werewolves should not regrow limbs. Accelrated healing is ok provided it heals in the same way a wound on a normal human would only a little faster. If a werewolf gets an arm chopped off, it should stay that way. If a small chunk is taken out of its ears then the missing piece should still be missing. Even on magical werewolves I find regeneration to be both weird and a bit repulsive.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:14 pm

Vuldari wrote:
The tail...hmmm...since it grows in it's entirety with each shift, I can see how that could be an exeption, partially. It would depend on whether or not the base virtibre (which exist on the human tailbone as well) are damaged or not. Otherwise, I think having only half of it broken off would allow it to grow back fully at the next shift.

Ok, that really gets me confused.

So when a werewolf shifts to Gestalt form, its a fresh new tail each time? What happens to the tail when its changing back to human form? Does it get reabsorbed? Is it not the same tail when that happens? If that "same tail" gets cut off, a new one will grow in the next shift?

Koshaw · Post by **Koshaw** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:28 pm

Sounds like a paper towel dispenser ^_^

Lupin · Post by **Lupin** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:32 pm

Figarou wrote:Ok, that really gets me confused. So when a werewolf shifts to Gestalt form, its a fresh new tail each time? What happens to the tail when its changing back to human form? Does it get reabsorbed? Is it not the same tail when that happens? If that "same tail" gets cut off, a new one will grow in the next shift?

IMO: Yes, reabsorbed, yes, kinda, yes.

'kinda' because it's the same mass/cells as the previous tail, though it could very well be aranged differently.

Kzinistzerg · Post by **Kzinistzerg** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:37 pm

NO! Small amounts of flesh, yes. but a limb requires

bone
muscle
tendon
ligaments
skin
nerbves
blood vessels
lymph vessles
and much more. a wolfie couldn't do all that!

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:38 pm

Shadowblaze wrote:NO! Small amounts of flesh, yes. but a limb requires

bone
muscle
tendon
ligaments
skin
nerbves
blood vessels
lymph vessles
and much more. a wolfie couldn't do all that!

Thats how I see it and thats why I said "no"

Aki · Post by **Aki** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:29 pm

Regenration of major and minor wounds faster than human i'm fine with, but limbs, not so much. Only a non-magickal Werewolf its kinda absurd. Neither Wolves or humans have the ability to regrow entire limbs, and the enhanced regeneration one other wounds can only a sideeffect of the shapeshifting process, which involves alot of stuff happening rather quickly, too quick to be realistically surviable.

Magical werewolves, okay, Its still weird but Okay..

Shadow Wulf · Post by **Shadow Wulf** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:03 pm

I say yes, but only if all limbs were present before the bite. My version of a werewolf can regrow limbs but it takes nearly a month or so. The only thing I dont consider regenerating is the major organs like the brain (depends where in the head), the heart, lungs and all those other really important organs, but limbs hey why not, if it can grow a tail why not a limb. Thats just the way I see it.

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:51 pm

Ok what if the wound was cauderized (not sure if that's the right word) would they still regrow it?

Lupin · Post by **Lupin** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:53 pm

Well that only stops the bleeding.

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:58 pm

You know were they put something hot next to it to dry up the blood and seal the veins, it worked on the hydra. So why not here

Scott Gardener · Post by **Scott Gardener** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:58 pm

I favor a soft-regeneration model; the ability to grow back fingers and toes, but not arms and legs. I do support regeneration of the whole tail, however; it's not a big stretch since it has to grow and ungrow anyway.

Did I mention the article about the... regenerating... mice?
They're mice that... can regenerate.

OK, guess I did.

I suppose a large limb could grow back eventually, but it would look funky and deformed for a little while until it reached a certain size.

Such regenerative powers, if based on DNA rather than magic, would not care about pre-bite or post-bite. So, an amputee might find the idea of lycanthropy appetizing if for no other reason than to get back something lost.

white · Post by **white** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:02 pm

*nods*
That's pretty much my idea of it.

Renorei · Post by **Renorei** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:16 pm

For Freeborn werewolves:

They should able to regrow/heal everything a human can heal, only uber-fast. Also, the pain they experience from the injury would initially be less than that of a regular human, I would think. Higher threshold for pain. Also, there are many injuries that a human could heal from, if only we didn't die before we get a chance to heal. I think that a werewolf would be less likely to die from such injuries. Sometimes, they might be able to heal enough to live from the wound.

Vuldari · Post by **Vuldari** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:39 am

Figarou wrote:
Vuldari wrote:
The tail...hmmm...since it grows in it's entirety with each shift, I can see how that could be an exeption, partially. It would depend on whether or not the base virtibre (which exist on the human tailbone as well) are damaged or not. Otherwise, I think having only half of it broken off would allow it to grow back fully at the next shift.
Ok, that really gets me confused. So when a werewolf shifts to Gestalt form, its a fresh new tail each time? What happens to the tail when its changing back to human form? Does it get reabsorbed? Is it not the same tail when that happens? If that "same tail" gets cut off, a new one will grow in the next shift?

If it dissapears completely (however that happens) in human form, then I don't see how or why it would be the SAME tail when the next shift occurs. That would suggest to me that the tail-matter is stored in some specific place within the body, waiting to come out again while in human form. That seems more than a little odd to me.

The weird thing is...technically, the hands I am typing with right now are not entirely the same hands I typed my first message on this forum with. Many of my skin cells have died off and have been replaced since then. I'm not sure what the life cycle of muscle and bone cells are, but I assume that some of those have bit the dust, while I've gained some new ones of those since then as well. And yet...even though skin recycles quite frequently, things like surface scars and tattoos don't fall off with it. I've never quite understood how that happens. Why don't tattos and scars fall off with the rest of ones dead skin?

...anyway, when I read or write the word "reabsorbed" when reffering to a werewolves reverse shift, I imagine those cells being broken down to their mollecular components and redistributed throuhout the body through the bloodstream as if they had just been digested. As gross and odd as it sounds, I think of reverse shifting, or other redistributions of mass for a shift towards any form, like the body digesting it's own flesh to be reused for the new growth. ...umm...yeah...

...admitably...there is a great deal of logic (from a biological standpoint) working against the existance of a tail on a werewolf. It seems to be a point that requires a reformatting of the way the werewolves entire body works, just to make it possible for the whole limb to grow and retract with every shift.

However, I am just too fond of the aesthetic value it holds to make the form look balanced and complete to just give in and say "oh well...I guess it can't have a tail." No...I'm not willing to give up yet. ...even though I don't know how to explain HOW it could be.

Figarou · Post by **Figarou** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:16 am

Vuldari wrote:
Figarou wrote:
Vuldari wrote:
The tail...hmmm...since it grows in it's entirety with each shift, I can see how that could be an exeption, partially. It would depend on whether or not the base virtibre (which exist on the human tailbone as well) are damaged or not. Otherwise, I think having only half of it broken off would allow it to grow back fully at the next shift.
Ok, that really gets me confused. So when a werewolf shifts to Gestalt form, its a fresh new tail each time? What happens to the tail when its changing back to human form? Does it get reabsorbed? Is it not the same tail when that happens? If that "same tail" gets cut off, a new one will grow in the next shift?
If it dissapears completely (however that happens) in human form, then I don't see how or why it would be the SAME tail when the next shift occurs. That would suggest to me that the tail-matter is stored in some specific place within the body, waiting to come out again while in human form. That seems more than a little odd to me.

The weird thing is...technically, the hands I am typing with right now are not entirely the same hands I typed my first message on this forum with. Many of my skin cells have died off and have been replaced since then. I'm not sure what the life cycle of muscle and bone cells are, but I assume that some of those have bit the dust, while I've gained some new ones of those since then as well. And yet...even though skin recycles quite frequently, things like surface scars and tattoos don't fall off with it. I've never quite understood how that happens. Why don't tattos and scars fall off with the rest of ones dead skin?

...anyway, when I read or write the word "reabsorbed" when reffering to a werewolves reverse shift, I imagine those cells being broken down to their molecular components and redistributed throuhout the body through the bloodstream as if they had just been digested. As gross and odd as it sounds, I think of reverse shifting, or other redistributions of mass for a shift towards any form, like the body digesting it's own flesh to be reused for the new growth. ...umm...yeah...

...admitably...there is a great deal of logic (from a biological standpoint) working against the existance of a tail on a werewolf. It seems to be a point that requires a reformatting of the way the werewolves entire body works, just to make it possible for the whole limb to grow and retract with every shift.

However, I am just too fond of the aesthetic value it holds to make the form look balanced and complete to just give in and say "oh well...I guess it can't have a tail." No...I'm not willing to give up yet. ...even though I don't know how to explain HOW it could be.

Ooooo....good stuff.

The only part of the werewolf that confuses me is the tail. There can be several different methods of what the tail can do when shifting back to a human.

It could...

1) fall off

2) get reabsorbed

3) still there but furless

It just depends on the story teller.

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