Therain is a little different to the rest of the crew. Where some view sailing as a job, he views it as a calling. To him a boat represents freedom and purpose, and to him the ultimate crime is to strip a man of that freedom. He is a very proficient sailor, having been brought up in a coastal fishing town as a young child until his mother was killed, and then serving on his fathers ship until his mid-teens. This has led him to be appointed as acting captain from time to time, a responsibility he would prefer to avoid.
He was apprenticed to a magician in Selgaunt when he showed signs of magical talent. There he met Darnoc, the only friend he has ever known. He became reclusive after the death of his father at the hands of pirates, and gave up on humanity entirely when his friend was brutally murdered as the consequence of some merchant power-struggle.
Therain joined the crew as a way of leaving Sembia and volunteered to be look-out so that he may be alone for extened periods of time. While Therain has no attachment to anybody, he does not deal well with avoidable violence, having lost all who were dear to him because of it. Therain holds a special hatred for pirates, who killed both his mother and father, since they make a living out of preying on the weak and innocent. He has no love for Sembians, who he blames for the death of the only friend he has ever known.
Therain's motivations are fairly mutable, as he has lost his direction and purpose in life. He has hope that time on the sea will help him, as it did his father, to find his place in the world and give him hope for life once more.