Since the assignment of our Agent’s most recent mission, “Things the go Bump,” we have collected significantly more scans and samples of the “Orc” Species Class. I’ve decided to take this opportunity to state my observations of one of these in particular, the Imp. Imps seem to have birthed from the concept of the eternal underling, eager to please, useful in a wide variety of capacities, but entirely unable to think for themselves.
Discovered by Agent xcellz
Size: 0.8 m
Energy: 15eV
Strength: Shadow
Weakness: Mind
Appearance:
Imps are flying mammal Espers that have the appearance of a flying cat or monkey with spiked horns running down their backs. An opposable spiked tail provides balance while steering themselves in the air, and can be used for grabbing and stabbing. Their batlike wings are comically small given their heavy, rotund bodies— were this creature to appear in the terrestrial world it wouldn’t be able to get an inch off the ground. But the Imp can fly, and even hover, flapping at an alarming pace. They aren’t very agile, and they often crash as a result, but their bodies are tough and elastic, so they usually bounce back with little damage.
Behavior:
In the wild, Imps are scavengers. They tend to settle into a tree or found enclosure such as a cave or hollow trunk, and there they maintain their nest, a mismatched assemblage of found objects and dissipate from other Espers. They sleep on a bed of Embers at night and throughout most of the day, awakening at dusk to search for food.
Imp are omnivores, and will scavenge whatever food they can, be it the thoughts of passing humans, or an unsuspecting Esper. They often like to hide in trees and pounce on their prey from above, but being more opportunists than planners, they do not have the patience to wait anywhere for long.
Other Notes:
Although Wild Imps aren’t very impressive by their lonesome, they display entirely different attitudes when they become bonded to a
human. The bonded Imp becomes extraordinarily attuned to the human’s desires, focusing entirely on their master’s thoughts as they manifest in the Thymosphere. Within hours of bonding they will offer gifts, as a cat might present a mouse to its owner. I have found that when I need an Esper to help manipulate elements of the Thymosphere, Imps are far more responsive than Cottle, which are easily distracted by their own side-projects. But however eager to please, Imps are so clumsy and short-sighted they are a risk within a laboratory setting. I attempted to use a few of them for an experiment and they set fire to the test subject within twenty minutes.
I am not familiar with the fantasy genre material that Agent Santos assures me the Imp Esper is derived from, but he tells me that they have a long history as fairy or demon-like mythological beasts in ancient folklore. They are considered mischievous rather than outright malevolent, which matches my own observations. It seems that their behavior comes from a motivation to get the attention of human-kind, or rather to be associated with power. Unable to actually take control of their own situations, they gravitate towards those who do, and align their interests as best they can.
My imp is just like that