The River
Imp, most commonly shortened to Rivimp as it shall be here, is the fresh-water
cousin of the Seamp (Sea Imp), now thought to be extinct following their
run-in with the Dark Warrior. They are
found throughout the vast majority of Europe’s rivers as well as in North
America, mainly in the north east US and eastern Canada, and also in parts of
Australia and New Zealand. Some
sightings have been made in Latin America.
Rivimps are
small in stature, a mere three inches, are in the same proportion as human
beings and have various adaptations for life underwater. Their feet, not used to support their bodies,
are large, flat and flipper-shaped to help with swimming while their hands are
webbed to help with swimming and digging.
Like fish they have gills rather than lungs and these are located on
their necks. Their mouths being
connected only to their stomachs they have no noses.
The Rivimp
live in burrows dug into river banks below the waterline, using a mix of fallen
twigs and leaves hardened with a special oral secretion to keep the ceiling and
walls in place. A similar secretion is
used to create clothes, allowing leaves to be shaped and stuck together but not
harden so as to allow movement. Some
people believe the males secrete the formula used for burrows and the females
for clothes. Others say this is pure
sexist conjecture.
Rivimps are
rarely found in lakes and canals, usually due in the case of the latter to
transportation by angered and frustrated fishermen- for they are mischievous
creatures, Rivimps, who like to play tricks on visitors to their habitat. They have been known to tickle the feet of
Herons, keep poohsticks stationery under bridges for up to a minute at a time,
steal the eggs of birds who make their nests on rivers, pull the tongues of
animals come to sup river waters and the hair of dogs come to swim in them,
and, most infamously, removing the maggots from fishing hooks and giving the
line a good tug.
This last
practice isn’t simply a playful one but the instinct of a cunning predator. The Rivimp lives mostly on fish (also
underwater grassy plants and other river dwelling creatures such as snails and
water boatmen) which they catch either by swimming alongside in packs and
filling the prey’s gills with mud or by using spears made from fallen twigs and
sharpened stones (which are guarded most carefully where they are used),
depending on the make-up of the river bottom.
Fishermen will always plead innocence, the majority of fish caught are thrown
back, but Rivimps do not appreciate this attack on their food stocks and will
always fight against it, taunting the fishermen as much as possible due to
their naughty nature.
However,
this badgering of fishermen has led to their extinction in some areas (and
rivers), as well as their introduction to areas of the New World. Few areas have seen extinction due to pure
malice as many folk believe the killing of Rivimps to bring extraordinarily bad
luck, indeed, by some to actually kill the river. Rather, areas around major ports were cleared
of Rivimps by fishing sailors for dispatch to the New Worlds of America and
Oceania from as early as the sixteenth century.
In the case of Australia, Rivimps were sometimes sent as an extra
punishment for the convicts sent there.
Rivimps are
extremely sociable and peaceful creatures, living in dense communities dotted
along the course of each river occupied.
Each one of these ‘villages’ will consist of a row of ‘terrace house’
burrows alongside each bank at regular intervals. A family of Rivimps will live together in
each one. In deeper rivers, there may be
up to six storeys of these burrows. On
each river, the communities of Rivimps will be known to each other, frequent visits
being made to keep in touch, and to trade weapons, clothes and food as one or
all three of these resources will not be available to all communities. It has been known for two ‘villages’ to
combine together after a disaster has struck one of them.
They spend
virtually the entirety of their lives underwater, only breaking the surface to
greet a visitor and during festivals.
Each river community have their own festivals, sometimes keyed into a
local human one. For instance, Medway
Rivimps congregate in Maidstone for the annual River Festival. Common reasons or themes for annually
celebrated festivals include the autumn leaf fall (or harvest as some Rivimps
are known to call it), floods and the laying of frogspawn, a treat that is
eagerly farmed and traded up and down a river in time for the festivities. On these occasions, Rivimps can be seen, very
late at night, jumping out of the water and into the night air in intricate
synchronised routines.
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