The Imp’s original appearance among Wolf’s Dragoons confused ComStar’s ROM in the early 31st century, though the revelation of the Dragoons' origins and decades of scrutiny into the Clans uncovered the mysterious origins of the machine. Once thought to be a forgotten Star League prototype, this 'Mech appears to have actually debuted soon after General Aleksandr Kerensky settled the Pentagon worlds, born as a symbol of the strength of a self-declared Star League in Exile. Kerensky did not introduce it in a grand spectacle, instead slipping it into the forces most loyal to him as they came off the lines. Most of the Imps went with his son on the Second Exodus, and they participated in Operation Klondike. By then, they were simply a part of the army, and with most of their creators dead their origin story slipped away.
         In 2825, Nicholas Kerensky reopened the Imp factory that Clan Wolf captured during the liberation of the Pentagon Worlds, and tapped its production to begin rebuilding the battered Clans. For a time the Imp remained one of their primay BattlMechs, but OmniMechs replaced it on the front line and it began to fade into the second line armies and then into complete disuse. When the Clans formed Wolfs' Dragoons to scout the Inner Sphere, they looked for forgotten Star League designs to deploy with them and found the once-mighty Imp. It fit what they were looking for perfectly.
         The Inner Sphere of course became suspicious at the new BattleMech, but instead of hiding them, the Dragoons chose to accept the mistake and use it to their benifit. The Imp and the other rare designs that they used became a part of the Dragoon mystique, the reason that everybody wanted to hire them, and the Dragoons gave Blackwell the resources they needed to build the Imp. At first, Blackwell only built the lowest technological variant of the Imp, but as the decades passed they upgraded their capabilities and by the time of the Word of Blake Jihad new Imp Cs were ready to fight them.

         At 100 tons, the Imp stresses armor and firepower over speed and finesse, the Dragoons build a version of the Imp that uses Clan technology for its weapons. The 'Mech is a barely humanoid gun platform, packing an arsenal of Swift Lightning pulse lasers, a massive Red Devil missile rack, and twin Black Widow particle cannons. Nineteen tons of Maximillian 300 armor and CASE, along with a standard Vlar engine, makes it almost impossible to take an Imp out of battle short of dismantling it piece by piece. Most distressing of all to enemies of the Dragoons, is that the Imp C can fire all of its weapons with very little heat build up. The Word of Blake and their allies learned that lesson well during the Jihad, and while only a few Imps survived that war, their basic hardiness and impressive weapons mix resulted in an expensive butcher's bill the Word had to pay for each Imp.

         During the Golden Age, every Clan used at least a few Imps, but they faded out of use during the OmniMech craze. Now it is all but unheard of to see them in Clan hands, with what are believed to be the last of them left in the Clan Homeworlds when the Hell's Horses and the other survivors fled the chaos of that last war. The Imp is now basically property of the Wolf's Dragoons, and Blackwell sells them to any and all members of the Allied Mercenary Command. Through that service, the Imp has become a symbol of the new era of mercenary might now spreading across the stars.