same! reading other people's theories is awesome especially when its large ones like yours lol, now on to responding again! possible spoilers warning lol!
I hadn't thought about the alpha becoming a swamp wolf and now I'm curious if he has, I had an idea a while back where Serena might be the swamp final boss as like maybe a goddess of fertility because the swamp creatures took her and corrupted her further, also Werewolves being seen during the day is extra strange so you could be right about this being proof he is a Swamp wolf now, which maybe he was around Bareshade to try and get Bernard, Logan and Caleb to try and force them to become one of the swamp creature wolves!
also, ye I can look for where i heard it and tell you if I do :)
then Ruben, I think it has merit for an idea absolutely, it also makes sense due to his personality so it being him makes a good amount of sense, originally i thought it wouldn't be that likely but now that you reminded me of the teacher speaking with him you actually kinda convinced me it's him because the teacher might have accidentally sparked a lot by telling Ruben. plus, the idea of it being Hishh was based off the idea that the corruption was maybe infecting the big tree and it caused it to become sentient and it was feeding him information and it told him about the werewolves, but now Ruben works.
and the permanent werewolf thing would also make sense if we can succeed in doing so, originally, I thought it might be something in own entire thing that takes an adventure to like a hidden werewolf kingdom or something to cure, but now this idea also works and fits without needing a new area! plus I believe the ? is possibly Serena herself and we just can't do anything yet because it's not added in yet.
now Xer creating an artificial cleanser or Othra teaching us a cleansing ritual could be true, but i think it was either need to happen during the siege on the temple or directly after with Othra and Roushk watching to help if anything goes wrong, and maybe something will where you become super corrupted and need to let it out and depending on who loves/likes you more Othra or Roushk would intervene and either do lewd things or help keep you calm to purify yourself and save the lake, but back on the siege itself, an attack at the temple where we almost lose and switch to Roushk seems fun because it could also be a way to increase love maybe with him, along with other warriors who see you nearly lose could come help and also be allies, like Xer could throw potions, Rhot could swoop in and attack with his tail or spear, and Grushk could tank or deal bigger damage with lesser chance while you play as the leader and heal everyone. but if WE siege them maybe you could choose to bring 3 people total and depending on relationships with you could determine how they fight with you, like one or 2 hearts could be really well but 3 could be perfect while no hearts or a black heart would lessen your strength and cause you to take damage from them hitting you by accident as well. and failing you could all become corrupted, and the temple would fall as a bad ending.
then on the ones who wanna stay corrupted, it's not a bad idea that Xer could do that and it's more feasible then you think because it could be a easy way to cleanse it fast and maybe even cheap depending on materials. he could also teach us it so we could skip corrupted fights and save more people to have higher ally numbers! (then dates are like yeah Rhot would do something less than lewd for once and Grushk would prolly bird watch, cuddle or meditate with MC)
also we already know some things about her because of dialog with other characters, one being they began fighting because Logan couldn't keep up with her sex drive and some people believed he got physical with her when he never did. plus she never hated him she just wanted more sex than he could provide and ended up going insane from pleasure.
also Feliar would literally have to have murdered the entirety of a world for me to dislike him a little lol.
but yeah, I entirely forgot he said it was someone we knew, ruling out those two's dad.... but we still got 2 suspects and I wanna find out if we are right. even without evidence this feels correct lol.
now the golem's I thought they were just protecting crystals and the father was just the leader rather than something to protect, but if he is what the goal maybe his chest crystal is either really old or it was born stronger than anyone else's.
also, I think the orc's might help out but only if the MC says they have too, and the idea of him asking for training and becoming more accepting sounds amazing.
and the Ruben thing was actually an idea I think me and JustNonsense came up with a while back when we were exchanging theories XD. but on track again, maybe Ruben is a part of a cult? he could have joined for forbidden knowledge and ended up killing a bunch of people in his pursuit of it.
also Paulo and John needing to find job's and us helping sounds like a fun event! maybe it could lead to later encounter's depending on what you choose and what your rep is!
then Tao I entirely forgot he wanted to go home so yeah, maybe it could be a temp home and when we visit, he could also get told he could visit! scrap living with us and the chase hide mechanic though work better with how you described it, i thought it was limited steps and only one path which would be kinda hard to find easily and he would always wake up, but this could be countered by him always waking up and fighting you/fucking you but the less or more you fight maybe he could gain/lose strength, like a lot could give him plenty of time to prepare while a little would give him little and he would have to rush to try and stop you! then the bad endings, yeah I'm mainly just projecting a desire here lol. I want it but I'm glad you like it!
Scrap living with us then moving though could be fun because he could choose his path, like cooking at the bar or sewing with Rose as you said!
the cave though, that's complex because she might explore early and i doubt our dog/a door would stop her when she wants something XD.
and on another note, you did great writing them! they came off clean and the theories make plenty of sense if you pay attention so yeah, you're doing great! plus your ideas on mine gave me some ideas too, so like thank you!