The title of Illr-frey, or evil-lord, was earned by Jan Throrson.

The land he rules is known as Godazland, meaning good land in the old tongue, which is ironic because it is so cold that trees struggle to live here and very little of the land is suited for farming. It was named so as a marketing plow that convinced a few hundred people to move to the island by Jan's great grandfather, a Eric the Black. Eric was a man with a well known temper, hence the Black moniker, that had murdered a man and -fearing a reprisal- fled his homeland. While sailing the seaways of the north he had discovered Godazland when his ship was blown off course. The land is very large but much of it is covered in a massive ice sheet the size of countries with only thin strips of land capable of holding any plant and animal life. Eric got it into his head to settle people there even though it was a harsh frozen hel hole. He was successful mostly due to the idea of free farmland and no taxes from the crown.

Returning to Jan Throrson, he became the Illr-frey due to increasing conflict with savages to the north known as Scraelings. The Scraelings were not a warrior people but did now how to defend themselves and had been in Godazland much longer so they knew the land and how to deal with the more magical anomalies of the place. The raids were causing significant losses and since Jan came from the most powerful and wealthy family of the land, Eric had claimed the best land for himself and his family, and the fact he was a very powerful Seidrman, otherwise known as a wizard or sorcerer in other lands, made him the most logical choice. It wasn't logical to everyone and a powerful warrior now known as Yoric the Broken challenged Jan for leadership. The two had decided on a holmgang, duel, to first blood or submission.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Seidrman unlike soft southerners derive there power from bodily strength as well as mental strength so Jan was a powerfully built man standing nearly as tall as a bear but Yoric was a well known duelist that had lead several successful raids on the Scraelings. The duel had started normally. Each man had a sword and shield with no armor and they had tested and struck at each other as well trained warriors. That was until Yoric had struck Jan on the arm. He had a large visible cut on his arm running from his wrist to his elbow but miraculously no blood flowed and the wound knitted closed before everyones eyes. Yoric cut Jan several more times and the wounds closed without a drop of blood being spilled. Jan waiting for his opportunity truck like a viper and cut Yoric's hand cutting of two fingers and unlike Jan his blood flowed.

The showcasing of such powerful seidr and skill had impressed everyone. A council of the local strongmen agreed to elect Jan Throrson as the Frey of the land as long as he respected the old laws. He would soon earn the Illr part of his name.