Pyotr

Pyotr Nestorovich Kratov (373 H.A. - ???) was an Alondrian domestic security official, subversive, and nationalist. After two decades of service in Her Majesty's Privy Secretariat for Domestic Peace and Serenity, Kratov joined The Order of the Silver Blade in order to pursue his goal of uniting the realm against what seemed to him like a likely demonic invasion.

Early Life and Education
Born in the north-western province of Martus in the Alondrian Confederation, son of a silversmith and inn owner, Kratov was from an early age fascinated by deception, spending time with the various shady characters of dockside Guidinglight (where he first learned Thieves' Cant).

Having been able to obtain a grammar education due to the sufficient standing of his parents, he was noted for his quick thinking and initiative, and at the age of 14 enrolled in the Alondrian Central Academy. Having completed his course, at 18 he was accepted as a provisional member of the Privy Secretariat.

Career in the Secretariat
As a Domestic Secretary, Kratov spent the majority of his tenure in the Conspiratorial Infiltration division of the Secretariat. In this capacity, it was his duty to identify groups that posed a potential threat to the Crown of Alondria, gain their confidence, and after a more detailed assessment, either leave behind a permanent informant or provoke a misstep that would lead to their arrest. Such work took months of preparation and enormous deception, and the arrests were almost never made public. The relatives of the accused often wouldn't know of their fates until they were summoned as witnesses to their eventual trials.

Leaving the Secretariat
Kratov's current conviction that a second demonic invasion is imminent took seed after a botched arrest following a year-long infiltration of a witch-cult that was being led by a viscount on the Alondrian-Tribeland frontier.

While most of the coven and their noble backers were seized, the ringleader/viscount himself, a student of the arcane and eldritch, had escaped after uttering an incantation in what Pyotr recognized as Abyssal, an appeal to "the Nine Dark Ones Undivided".

About six months later, with reports of the re-institution of the Inquisition in Pantheon and other disturbing news coming in, and his superiors refusing to dedicate even the slightest resources to his suspicions of a larger conspiracy, Pyotr left the service, with only minor attention from the central directorate.