"Sometimes he was a pirate until he fell in love with my mom and decided to reform his ways. Sometimes captured by pirates until she saved him. Sometimes he was searching for lost treasure...." --Nihn on the bedtime stories she would tell her little sisters about how her parents met
Thorben is Mhasrin's current husband and Mhissain's biological father, though Nihn and Lan also call him father. He is a Belhedan from Bozeg.
The public narrative surrounding Thorben is very fractured. One of the predominant threads is about how in the history of Mhasrin's spouses, consorts, concubines, and lovers, Thorben is the first she's taken purely for her love of him. Discussions about him in this regard are very romantic and sweet, painting him as a doting partner and father. There are other factions who are suspicious of the political power he's been given within the Autarchy's government. People in this camp accuse him of speaking in a too abstract and pedantic way and even of being a sociopath.
Thorben has had a lot of influence on his daughters' upbringing and is often on Kalmoro with Mhissain. He originally intended to immigrate to Koyo Isu as a researcher, and still has interests as an antiquarian (read: hoarder).