» Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:51 pm
To: Serjo Arisn
Fr: [The Word Merchant of Julianos], School Disciple of Midbury, Daggerfall
Re: Porphyric Hemophilia
My friend, Arisn,
The Chapel of Julianos in Skingrad, Cyrodiil forwarded your query to Midbury, Daggerfall due to the "vampire wing" being added in the School's library there. I delivered the letter to the School with an armed escort of three Knights Mentor, even though your query was not entirely the reason for such additional precautions, but I digress.
To answer your question, it does appear that non-humanoid creatures can contract porphyric hemophilia, but we have no record of such occurring, only a logical conclusion that, under the appropriate circumstances, that it would.
One item of particular import in the Midbury collection is a letter from a Vvardenfellian known only as Kaushad to the Nerevarine, in which Kaushad touched upon the topic of "vampires" in saying "Vampires are monsters that feed on humanoid blood. Once they were human like you and me, but they get the blood disease from another vampire, and they become vampires themselves. That's why they still exist. Everyone hates them, yet no one wants to come near one. But doesn't prophecy say the Nerevarine has nothing to fear from disease? So you have nothing to worry about, I'm sure."
It appears that nonhumanoid blood does not qualify as nourishment for these poor wretches, and porphyric hemophilia appears to be spread via feeding, which is why only humanoids become vampires.
But that, my friend does not answer the hypothetical end of the question, does it? Whether an animal could become vampiric given the right circumstances, or to put it another way, can porphyric hemophilia take root in an animal host?
Questioning commoners in Vvardenfell typically gets an response like "Blood vampires are powerful undead creatures that feed on humanoid blood. The vampire curse is contracted from disease-contaminated blood; victims of vampire attacks sometimes become vampires."
Quoting from http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/vampires.shtml, "...It is supposed that vampirism is contracted from wounds received from a vampire. Since few victims survive vampiric attacks or feedings, the process of contracting the disease is little understood."
So now where do we stand? We know that vampires must feed on humanoid blood, but vampirism seems to be able to be spread by vampire "attacks". What is the definition of "attacks"? Is a fist or sword fight an "attack", or does it specifically require a bite? These things are unknown.
In summary, I will state the following:
1. Vampirism is spread through being "attacked" by a vampire.
2. A bite from a vampire qualifies as an "attack".
3. Vampires bite only humanoids for sustenance.
4. Only humanoids will be infected during a feeding attack.
5. Since there is nothing to demonstrate that a vampire bite during feeding is different from a non-feeding vampire bite, it appears that both could be classified as "attacks".
6. Vampires do, therefore, have the ability to "attack" an animal.
7. There is nothing thus far to show that an animal that has been "attacked" by a vampire would not be infected, assuming that it survived said "attack".
My friend, there are no records of animals being infected with such a horrible disease, and I would pray that Kyne would rid Her children of such filthy invasions with a quickness. I do not, as a personal opinion, believe that animals can be vampirized, but I must follow the dictates of Scholar and School that command that logic, as given by the High Lord Julianos, be applied in each and every query (save for those that JHUNAL deigns to manifest Himself in his Contradiction Aspect). Therefore, I must state that I, nor can any of the other Midbury Scholars, find a logical reason why poryphic hemophilia cannot manifest in an animal.
May the Light and Brilliance that is JHUNAL illuminate your studies, for I remain...
___The Word Merchant of Julianos