Ord Redding is an exile from a foreign theocracy. His exile stems largely from his secular study of runes: He acknowledges the existence of the gods, and even respects them, but does not worship them. This wasn't tolerated by the powers that be. His reason for coming to Hollin, and part of the reason for his exile, is his obsession with a conspiracy theory involving a disturbing pattern of events that he believes allowed a god to enact some divine event in complete secrecy, even from the other gods. His investigation lead him to Hollin, and a trail of runes left by Prosper lead Ord to seek out the current party. I'm thinking it could eventually be revealed that the god that gave Prosper his powers is traditionally considered evil aligned, but whether or not Prosper is a pawn in some evil plot or an honest attempt at salvation is still ambiguous.