About a century ago the Illness came from nowhere and killed the world. It's like a really bad rash. People like me are immune because the ones who weren't died off over the years in some way, but there's a place that has more non-immunes than immunes since it's water-locked.

[Iceland's also got the best technology like, ever, but Sigrun doesn't really care about that part unless it helps to kill trolls.]

The ancient gods saved those that believed and punished those that didn't.