Kurtis Krammovitch was an Ostermarker Hedgewise with a grudge. When he was young, he watched his parents, both Hedgefolk, be burned as Witches by a passing Bright Magister. Krammovitch's uncle, who was also Hedgefolk, thereafter raised him. On his eighth birthday he showed his first signs of being one of the Blessed Few when he healed a calf that should have died in childbirth by using nothing but his tear-stained hands. His powers developed quickly, and by the age of nineteen Krammovitch was tremendously skilled in Hedgecraft, uncannily so; further, he had a plan.[1a]
Later that year Krammovitch was captured by a young Grey Magister after the Shadowmancer spotted him fumbling a simple curse on a shopkeeper who had clearly fleeced him. As he had planned, Krammovitch had a new master. Fifty years later, Krammovitch is now a Lord Magister of the Grey Order, and has trained many new apprentices, all Hedgefolk, all subtly allowed to maintain their rural beliefs instead of being fully indoctrinated into the Greys.[1a]
From this position he works hard to support the Hedgefolk where he can, and to manoeuvre his apprentices into positions where they can do the same. However, he is beginning to believe all may not be as it seems; what if the Greys purposefully recruited him to do exactly as he is doing: to train the Hedgefolk in proper Collegiate magic?[1a]