Porphyric Hemophilia (Elder Scrolls)

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Porphyric hemophilia is a disease in The Elder Scrolls series of video games wherein, after three days (72 hours) without treatment, the player character is turned into a vampire. The name is a variant of the real life disease porphyria, which has been associated with the vampire myth, "hemophilia" being Ancient Greek for "love of blood". In the video games Oblivion and Morrowind, the disease can be cured by a potion of Cure Common Disease or at any chapel altar - assuming the player attempts these methods before the transformation.

[edit] Symptoms

The only symptoms of porphyric hemophilia are a slight loss of energy (in game terms, a minor fatigue drain) and a series of disturbing dreams. These dreams continue to occur whenever the player suffering from vampirism attempts to rest. Prevalent themes of these dreams are pleasurable sensations (lying in the sun, eating a meal) turning into horror (the sunbathing dreamer is lying in a grave and gets buried alive, or the meal turns out to be full of grubs). These dreams appear to be a comment on the tragedy of a 'pure' person becoming an undead monster.

Fan speculation has suggested that the particularly violent nightmare experienced on the night before the vampiric change is complete is in fact a defence mechanism used by the afflicted's body to mask the pain of the final stages of the transformation. Supposedly, this would include adjustments of the digestive tract to metabolise blood, the eyes taking on a reddish glow, and the elongation of the cuspids.

[edit] Acquiring the Disease

In Oblivion, one becomes infected through direct contact with those afflicted with the disease. Those afflicted often show overt signs of vampirism:

• Red irises
• Sharp, fang-like cuspids
• Stronger physical constitution
• Vulnerabilities to silver and enchanted weapons

Furthermore, afflicted persons will be vulnerable to sunlight and therefore dwell in caves and other dark places.