Imp (Doom)


 * Not the be confused with the fifth-dimensional race of the same name

"You thought an imp was a cute little dude in a red suit with a pitchfork. Where did these brown [Expletive Removed] come from? They heave balls o' fire down your throat and take several bullets to die. It's time to find a weapon better than that pistol if you're going to face more than one of these S.O.B.s."

- Doom instruction manual

The Imp is a demonic humanoid creature capable of throwing fireballs.

Biology
The body of the Imp consists of a brown, muscular, humanoid body, red eyes, and white spikes protruding from its upper arms and chest, along with sharp teeth, standing at about the height of an adult human. A subspecies of Insectoid Imps bear ten arachnid eyes and are covered in a grey exoskeleton, while also standing taller than the average human. In addition, Insectoid Imps are able to perform acrobatic leaps and other feats that the ordinary brown Imps seemed incapable of performing. Based on UAC reports, they appear to be eusocial, but any Imp queen or similar matriarchal figure is unknown. Orange Imps, the only other known subspecies, have some orange armor-like skin on certain parts of their bodies, such as their chest, head, back, shoulders, and upper arms and legs. They are capable of performing even more acrobatic feats than their insectoid counterparts, and appear to have evolved or otherwise been augmented to bear spikes and a browner complexion like the original Imps at some point during the invasion of Earth. All Imps are capable of generating and throwing fireballs, although Orange Imps are capable of charging up larger fireballs. Prowlers, a humanoid purple-skinned demonic race capable of teleportation, are assumed to be a descendent of Imp breeds, as are Summoners, a floating creature that summons demons to its aid. Gargoyles are also said to be related to Imps, and bear some similarity in the structure of their legs. Deceased Imps are able to be made into Stone Imps, white-colored stone-based beings that are capable of engulfing themselves in hellfire and speeding at opponents, only able to be destroyed by rapid fire heavy caliber rounds or the energy shockwave of a Sentinel Hammer.

History
The Imps came from a demonic dimension called Hell, possibly made from corrupted Jekkadians. Throughout an unknown period of time, various subspecies of Imps arose, and were used as soldiers in interdimensional invasions, often fighting a race known as Argenta, who were led by the Order of the Night Sentinels. The Argenta priests turned against the rest of the Argenta, siding with the Maykrs, who struck a deal with Hell for their mutual benefit. The Night Sentinels, along with their champion, an unnamed human known only as the Doom Slayer, were trapped in Hell, where Imps and other demons launched a relentless assault on them. Only the Doom Slayer survived, and continued to fight demons for eons, until he was finally locked away in a tomb on the surface of Mars within an unknown universe. Deceased Imps were revived as Stone Imps, and were sent back out into battle. In the future, when Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) scientists were experimenting with teleportation technology on Phobos, they accidentally opened a rift to Hell. This caused a whole manner of demonic forces, including Imps, to come through the portal onto Mars' moons and the other bases. The demons brought destruction on the UAC bases and killed or possessed many UAC personnel, although they too were killed by a lone marine who ended the invasion by killing the commanding Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind. Not too much later, they made their way to Earth to continue their attack there. It was here that the single hero, the marine, slaughtered the demon hordes, including Imps, and later managed to close the rift between the dimension of Hell and the Earth itself, sealing surviving Imps away in Hell. The corpses of Imps left on the Martian moons would later be revived by the Mother of All Demons, only for the marine to destroy them again. The marine then voluntarily remained in Hell to put down its threat forever, fighting hordes of demons alone, somehow going back in time and across dimensions, eventually becoming the immortal superhuman known as the Doom Slayer, the very one who had fought demons over eons. Some time in the future, in what appears to be another universe, an insectoid subspecies of Imps was found by a UAC teleportation experiment team. Some specimens were brought to Mars for study. Insectoid Imps were among an invasion force that attacked a UAC Mars base, brought over by a human cultist named Dr. Betruger. An unnamed UAC Marine fought his way through the Imps and other demons to Hell, killing their Cyberdemon and stopping the invasion. At another point in the future, in what could be the same universe, Orange Imps were brought over to Mars by a growing faction of cultists within the UAC, led by Dr. Olivia Pierce. When the demons launched another invasion of Mars, the Doom Slayer was woken up, as the universe he was held in was the very one being invaded. Retrieving his armor and weapons, the Doom Slayer eventually fought Imps, killing them and other demons, eventually killing the Spider Mastermind and stopping the invasion. Years later, in the same universe, a demonic invasion of Earth was launched at the order of the Khan Maykr, and Doom Slayer, who had been banished out to unknown regions of space at the end of the previous invasion, returned in an Argenta space station to combat the demons once more. A seemingly more evolved strain of Orange Imps were used, who fought alongside other demons against the Armored Response Coalition (ARC), Earth's current defense force, and UAC security forces not loyal to the cultists. Many were killed in Slayer's rampage throughout Hell, Earth, Mars, and Urdak. All Imps remaining on Earth were killed or otherwise banished after the death of the Icon of Sin. The Slayer then utilized ARC resources to retrieve the life sphere of the Dark Lord in order to kill him, killing more Imps along the way. After reviving the Dark Lord, the Slayer fought his way to Immora, killing Orange and Stone Imps that stood in his way. All Imps outside of Hell were destroyed when the Dark Lord was killed, with one disintegrating as it moved to attack a UAC employee and security trooper.

Doom/Doom II/Doom 64
The Imp will make a loud hiss when it detects a threat and will launch a ranged attack by throwing a large fireball in that direction. At close range, the Imp will switch to a melee claw attack (Melee combat between an Imp should be avoided). The Imp and it's fireball projectiles move rather slow, this makes it easier to dodge when in combat with a single one but unfortunately, Imps are usually found in packs which will make their fireballs slightly harder to dodge. When defeated, the Imp will let out one of two distinct snarls which will sound like "Nuuuuuh!" and "Eeeergh!"