
Sanguinare Vampiris and Porphyric Hemophilia both have a three-day incubation period, inwhich the infected will become a vampire after the allotted time has passed. Infections are caused by being bitten or scratched by a vampire. Vampires spread their affliction by giving mortals diseases such as Porphyric Hemophilia, Sanguinare Vampiris, and Noxiphilic Sanguivoria. This was a wholly unique phenomenon, and all other attempts to combat a vampire with garlic will inevitably end in disaster. To date, only one vampire has ever been harmed by garlic due to a preexisting allergy. Persistent myths claim that vampires are weak to garlic, but they are untrue.

ĭistrust and chaos can potentially bring down entire settlements should just one vampire infiltrate the populace. While vampires' capabilities often include incredible speed, advanced mystical talent, and unnatural strength, their ability to spread the infection to others-a fate often described as worse than death-is among the most frightening. While some vampires claim to have a heartbeat, others have claimed that their heartbeats ceased after contracting vampirism. Vampires are classified as the accursed undead, as their undead status arises from the curse of vampirism as opposed to a necromancer's manipulation of the buried dead. Other names for vampires include blood vampire, vampyre, scion of Bal, and nosferatu. Romantic notions of noble, virtuous vampires persisted in Imperial traditions through the Third Era, and vampires were thought to pass unrecognized in the Mages Guild and the Imperial aristocracy.

Imperial culture views vampires as destructive monsters to be hunted and destroyed. Though it's possible for a vampire to find a cure, knowledge of how to do so has been suppressed in many places due to the fear that it would encourage people to deliberately infect themselves. Whether they consider themselves cursed or blessed, or whether they have given into their animalistic instincts or have sought to rid the world of the disease, vampires are nonetheless considered abominations. The vampires of Tamriel are undead, diseased persons who are hated, hunted, and misunderstood by the living. A vampire is a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, which consumes the blood of living creatures.
