Imugi

"The Empire stole our land, and our homes, and our freedom. And they dare to call us pirates." - Jeonjin Sanghaeul, leader of the Imugi

When the Empire of Wamato conquered the Kingdom of Seomna, the Yanjin invaders attempted to exterminate all free Chilseongsin, replacing them with settlers who were either Yanjin or Rengo (a human ethnic group that shared the Seom Islands with the Chilseongsin. According to the Yanjin, the reptilian Chilseongsin were not people - they were beasts, and to be treated as such. They slaughtered most of the population of Seomna, and the survivors were either enslaved or driven out of the Seom Islands.

The survivors who escaped death or enslavement fled east, into The Middlesea. There, they found refuge among the Daemado Islands. This archipelago is known for being difficult to navigate - it is made up of hundreds of tiny islands that appear and disappear seemingly at random, and plagued by strange storms that appear out of nowhere. These conditions hindered the Yanjin pursuit, and they eventually abandoned the attempt to locate and capture the remaining Chilseongsin, believing the the conditions of the Daemodo region would do it for them. It nearly did. But the remnants of the Chilseongsin persevered, and learned how to predict the archipelago's strange tides. First they hid, then they learned, and finally they thrived.

They named themselves the Imugi, the sea serpents, and began their campaign to retake the island of Gyeongseong and re-establish the Kingdom of Seomna. For the last two hundred years, they have plagued the Empire. They waylay ships passing through the region, claiming all goods for the Imugi cause. They have made alliances with other groups who oppose the empire, such as the Hoshimoto Utari and the Kizhva. They raid settlements throughout the Seom Islands, and they liberate enslaved Chilseongsin whenever they can. Throughout the region, the serpent and octopus standard of the Imugi strikes fear in the human population, and on Gyeongseong they eye the enslaved Chilseongsin with suspicion, knowing that they could rise up in bloody rebellion at any time.