Oswald is short and slim in stature, his right arm and hand twisted following a childhood injury that was never properly set. His arm is weak, his hand has difficulty with fine movements. This injury has shaped his life. The eldest son of an minor administrator in Ongus, he was expected to learn to read and write to follow in his father's footsteps. When it became apparent that he would never be able to properly manipulate a pen in his right hand (and certainly, he would never be taught to use, the forbidden left hand for such a thing), he was passed over in favour of his younger - uninjured - brother, and became the black sheep of the family.

Too ill-educated to be an administrator, too clumsy to be much good with manual work, Oswald found acceptance only through the charity of the Church, and he embraced the True Faith. While he cannot read scripture, he has significant parts of it memorised. He has found that his prayers for his own healing are often answered - though only for small injuries and never yet for his arm; that the Holy Spirit sometimes warns him of danger before he can see it and has sometimes seen divine intervention draw attention away from him at critical moments. He is in no doubt as to the goodness of the Hanged God, and the value of the True Faith.

To get the unwanted son off his hands, Oswald's father has had the boy apprenticed to Sir Brenton. Frustrated at being sold short his whole life, Oswald is determined to make the most of this opportunity, and exhibits a strong loyalty to Sir Benton for being one of the few people willing to take a chance on him.