Treatise on Imps
On their origins, nature, knowledge, and trustworthinessByImrik McGaryKing of MistryaArcmage of ArcadiaSlayer of ScoriaSon of Empress Wikk
Common Misunderstandings
In common parlance, Demon is used broadly for anything evil and unknown. In the study of Demonology, Demon is a specific term referring to a class of creature specifically from that older world. Imps are not demons. They come from The Pit, one of the protoplanes of our own material plane, not from the rejected second material plane.
Protoplane of The Pit: Fire + Earth & Air
The Prime Material Plane lays at the center of the cosmos and composed of the four major Elemental Planes and the World Staff. Adjacent to these elemental planes are four major Protoplanes, each of which are based in one of the four elements and influenced by either adjoining element. The Pit is the protoplane most aligned with Fire, and receiving influences of earth and air. On the other side of the realm sits The Feywild, which is based in the plane of Water and is also influenced by Earth and Air.
Physically, The Pit is a strange and alien world. The walls of the pit climb ever higher and ever deeper but neither their peaks nor troughs can be seen for the whole of the realm is blanked in darkness that is hedged back by sources of flame. Our own world is very much centered around a concept of ground or sea level, what serves as a floor to life. Within The Pit, the reference frames are the surfaces of the walls. Creatures can be upon the surface, beyond the surface, beyond sight of the surface, within the shell of the walls, within the tunnels of the walls, or burrowed into the caverns. Ascending or descending The Pit is to the denizen of that plane as walking across the surface of the land is to creatures from our world. At great enough heights flight grows difficult and eventually impossible. Similarly, great depths cause discomfort that grows extreme or even lethal for creatures not native to that particular region. Between these extremes, there is no discernible method of knowing ones position in vertical space. Travel up and down the pit is conducted by climbing the walls - hard, brittle, and sharp rock faces - or by flight.
Unlike our own realm, fires within the pit are ubiquitous, exist without fuel, and cannot be seen outside the areas they illuminate. The matter of illumination is strange, bordering on the impossible to understand. Similar to how one may make out a face in the fog at close range, lights can be seen only when close. As the distance grows, the point sources hazes, obscures, and eventually vanishes altogether. The ever present columns, motes, and bursts of flame have lifecycles of their own - some come into and out of existences rapidly, while others churn for eons. Thus, The Pit exists in a perpetual darkness with uneven and unpredictable glows of light. Local denizens have some intuitive ability to understand transient flames vs eternal flames.
Creatures exist (I hesitate to say live) in the air, upon the walls, and within tunnels or caverns. Something akin to a food chain exists within this realm, with the higher end of the food chain existing deeper in the walls or at extreme depths.
The Pit is the correct interpretation of the realm, for while its walls twist, bend, pocket, and wind much like a canyon, and while great pillars and mountains of stone create something akin to misshapen and massive island columns within the void, all of the realm is contained within a single chamber of unfathomable size. The further ‘up’ one goes, the more airspace, the further ‘down’ one goes, the less airspace, although the heights that define these spaces are measured in distances so vast as to defy understanding. Traditional forms of measurement are unavailable in the pit for visible distances are short and there is no form of reliable cyclical behavior that can be used as indicator of time. Thus creatures in The Pit do not think of their physical surroundings or sphere of causality in terms of measurable distances. They exist in the present moment without concept of days, weeks, or years.
From a perspective of interplaner travel, getting to The Pit is significantly easier than any other plane, but getting out of it is another matter entirely. Unidirectional gateways to The Pit can be constructed with relative ease; however, the requirements for bidirectional gateways are quite complex. An example of great interest is the spell “Find Familiar”, which is capable of summoning an Imp from The Pit to our realm. The necessary components to transform that spell from a natural creature finder to an interplaner Imp finder border on the superficial - yet expanding those same pathways into a more generalized portal spell is frightfully complex. Many disruptive eddies require finer tuned control, which in turn creates smaller eddies, which requires finer control, and a small side effect which at first looks simple soon grows to become a greater consequence than then underlying problem.
For the magically uninitiated, imagine you stand suspended upon a platform by rope and pulley that hangs over a great depth. You wish to lower yourself and the platform into the depths in order that you might load upon the platform one of the creatures that lives on the pit. Lowering yourself is sImple, but the combined weight of yourself, the platform, and the ever increasing length of rope is more weight than you could lift to. Traditionally, lifting a weight too great for one’s strength is overcome by doubling the length of the rope and adding a second pulley so that you pull twenty feet of rope to raise the platform ten feet, yet with half the required strength. We exchange the needed strength for a greater length of pull. Yet so great is the depth of The Pit that in doubling the length of rope, we have appreciably added weight to the system, and now you are no longer strong enough to lift it - yet you are closer than before. Doubling ropes and pulleys again brings you closer, but not close enough. Double seven times more and, according to my calculations, one may be able to lift themselves - yet at the same time one must now pull one thousand, two hundred, and eighty feet of rope to raise yourself ten feet, and the effort to sustain such a climb has become a new problem in and of itself.
Creating a spell that takes the caster to The Pit is no more difficult than the spell Etherealness - yet to arrive by such means would render the caster stuck there with no means of escape. I have reliable reports that many an eager wizard has gambled and lost their life in such a way, often falling vast distances through darkness and flame before splattering upon jagged rocks below.
A special note here should be made for Imps and some of their related races, as they can Gate their own kind through to our plane, or Gate themselves back home. The door between these two worlds can only be opened from our side, and even then it is transient and cannot be maintained. Many forms and methods to keep such gates open have been attempted, but each has failed.
If the nature of travel to and from the pit is as it appears, one cannot help but notice the similarities between that protoplane and a dungeon or prison of some kind. Even its name draws a parallel. I have unfounded, unproven, and unevidenced conjectures that the creatures there are spun from the souls of evil men the gods want not to let back into our world.
Appendix A contains a list of creatures found in The Pit, along with brief descriptions.
Origins and Nature of Imps
Like Elves, Imps’ existence predates the mortal world, but postdates the second material plane. Unlike elves, the children of Astair, I have found no deity with close affinity to Imps. They may be castoffs, accidents, unfortunate byproducts, a deposition of unwanted existences, or even creations of some other power that holds no sway within our plane.
Imps border on immortality. They have no natural lifespan. They are resistant to magic. If they die in our plane, they return to their own. Death within The Pit appears to be permanent, yet they do not fear it as we do. Imps seem to have no natural method of reproduction, and it is unclear if their numbers are great but finite, or if there is some other method of creation. Much like humans, Imps cannot recall their creation. Unlike our kind, they form no familial bonds, do not care for one another, do not experience the feeling of love - save perhaps a twisted devotion to their masters - and have little curiosity about their origins. It is possible that all the Imps to ever be created have already been made, and they slowly being whittled away. It is also possible there is some yet unseen process by which new Imps are introduced to The Pit.
It is this author’s unevidenced opinion that Imps come into existence by some divine spirit, similar to how insects vanish from the land in winter but return in the spring as if they had always been. They may simply spring into existences, fully formed.
The matter of Imps and Souls is an area that needs further research at the hands of a cleric, druid, or divinely attuned spellcaster. Does an Imp have a soul? What is its size? Its colors? Do they mix with mortal souls upon death? Are they comprised of the same soul material as our own. Should any reader have proof of these answers, please contact King Imrik McGary of Mistrya, Arcadia, Drekkisian Empire for discussion and significant rewards.
It is an Imp’s nature to serve some master, some greater power. They are cunning, clever, and seem to take enjoyment in subterfuge and manipulation. As creatures born to servitude, they are adept at making themselves small and submissive, despite their considerable capabilities. It is a common tactic for an Imp to play at servitude to one person or creature in order to accomplish a task set to it by the Imp’s true master. More on this topic under the heading Imps as Servants and Familiars.
Imps’ unique access to knowledge
Because Imps do not die of old age, there exist many Imps who have lived for thousands of years. These Imps may have served many masters in the Prime Material Plane over millennia, and may retain knowledge and secrets thought long lost to the world. A summoned Imp may have been in service, or summoned, recently, and have very modern information about places near and far. When an Imp returns to its home plane it can and will share information it has learned with other Imps, further expanding the pool of knowledge available to these creatures.
Furthermore, Imps gain great deals of knowledge about our world and the various planes of existences through service to whatever masters they maintain within The Pit. These strange and shadowy figures have alien motivations and desires, the ultimate nature of which are often hidden from their servants. This author expects that even if a frank and honest conversation could be had with one of these creatures, the things they want would have few if any analogs to our own. Concepts like money, good arable land, political advancement, family, and reproduction do not exist to such creatures. Surely whatever aims they must hold rely on concepts beyond comprehension. It may be, and once again we enter the realm of speculation, that these beings have less “desire” and more “compulsion”. Regardless of the reasons for their actions, these Pit Lords are seemingly powerful and contain a great deal of knowledge, some of which is imparted to their followers.
In short, Imps are a gambler’s treasure trove of knowledge. I myself have encountered an Imp who once served Ishtar the Invoker, and through speaking with this creature have discovered secrets lost to our land for fifteen hundred years.
However, because Imps are inherently untrustworthy creatures, anything an Imp claims to know or have heard should be vetted most carefully. Even if the Imp in question is a devoted servant, they may be presenting partial and manipulative truths, have been intentionally misinformed, or have their memories blurred by time. Living for eons does not make a mind retain knowledge any better than living a mortal life.
Imps as servants and familiars
Can an Imp be trusted?
This is a question that sits at the hearts of many wizards seeking familiars or easy knowledge.
Find Familiar is a potent spell made in ages past by greater minds than exist today. It relies on an innate willingness and desire to serve, yet attracts independent and clever creatures such as ravens and cats. By all analysis, the latent power contained within it is far greater than that of any first order spell, and appears to have interactions with other types of older magics not seen in the world in this day. It may be that such a spell could not be invented in the modern world.
When bound as familiars, Imps feel a pull to be near their summoner. Physically they are able move as they please, but the contractual nature of the familiar spell keeps summoned Imps from entering the world and then ignore their summoner. For creatures of such lies and malicious intent, they are sticklers for agreements, contracts, and bargains.
Imps only respect power. They always serve a master, but a wizard who has called an Imp familiar may not be the only master they serve. An Imp in service to a Pit Lord may come to the Prime Material Plane to serve a mortal wizard as a familiar for a time, with the express intention of doing their Pit Lord master’s bidding while upon our plane in tandem. They may serve their mortal master well, or they may turn their mortal master’s attentions to the tasks they were sent to perform.
Mortals who do not have the power to permanently kill an Imp are useful tools that Imps need not respect. If you are incapable of causing permanent death to your Imp, you cannot trust your Imp. Permanent death is achievable in many ways, but that knowledge is not free and this author shall not share such secrets within this document.
As we all know, the death of a familiar is a traumatic moment for any wizard, witch, warlock, or master. It can bring pain, ruin, and even death. An unsolved question exists around the ability of an Imp to accept a familiar contract with the goal of breaking the contract specifically for the harm it would cause that wizard. This could be by gating themselves out of our plane, actively killing themselves upon our plane, or knowingly putting themselves directly in harms way. I can find no reason why such things are impossible, yet I have never come across any account of such behavior. The three most likely solutions for this problem are:
1) The nature of the contract prevents the Imp from taking actions that would break the contract, or there is some feedback mechanism that makes doing so sufficiently unpleasant for the Imp that it is not done. Perhaps the death of their master would be fatal to the Imp.
2) It is not within the nature of an Imp to break such contracts, even if they are known to bend, flex, and skirt the boundaries.
3) They see mortal masters as entryways into the Prime Material World for their own ends, and do not have enough interest or respect for mortal wizards to intentionally harm them.
Summoning a Imp to serve as a familiar is a dangerous and risky proposition, unless the summoner in question is exceedingly powerful. Novices who hope to accelerate their advancement by their Imp familiar are especially prone to unfortunate accidents and encounters. The allure of so much power and knowledge must be resisted until it can be truly controlled if the summoner wishes to maintain autonomy. One should consider summoning an Imp similarly to seeking out a hag or outer-planer entity. It is possible. It seems easy at first. It is not until much later that the true prices become clear. Be warned.