Character Creation: Read Second
Background: Background is different from upbringing insofar as it more describes what you do instead of where you come from. Think of it as your character’s profession, though some Backgrounds are more than just a job. Pick one described below, or come up with your own, and integrate it into your character's History.
Tournament Champion:
You’re aiming for the top, and nothing is going to stop you. The competitive, corporate landscape of New Domino has grabbed you for whatever reason, and you thrive on the cutthroat competition. Whether you duel classically or ride the New Domino Circuits, you want your name to be put alongside that of the Greats; Jack Atlas, Yusei Fudo, Hunter Pace, maybe even Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto. You probably have a manager, a handler, and are otherwise surrounded by competent staff to help manage your media personality. Whether you thrive on this or are wearied by it, whether you wear a mask to seek glory or show your true self in the arena, fame, fortune, and immortality are your highest goal.
Scholar:
Whether a Slifer Red or writing your PhD, academia is your domain. Pages in books and cards in a deck hold equal value to you, as both contain what you need to change the world. You might just be too young to be anything other than a student, or you could be a renowned scholar of duels, a card encyclopedia or an utter rules lawyer. Whatever the case, outline the school you attend and your position in it; your Duel Academy house, your best subject, and your worst subject. Are you a star student, a clique member, a famous bully, or even a professor?
Citizen:
You’re just a private citizen; you’re out of school, practice some kind of profession, and duel on the side. You could be anywhere between the Tops and the Satellite in terms of wealth, but you can still get by on your job. You might even have a family and kids, or at least a significant other, or you could be living with your birth family. Whatever the case, you’ve lived a fairly quiet life and probably want to keep it that way.
Reporter:
News, gossip, and hearsay are as much the blood of New Domino as Ener-D. As a Reporter, you have to sift all of that information in pursuit of your goal; a good paycheck, stoking outrage, covering up corruption, or the truth, whatever you pursue, you do so with notepad, camera, and crew. You likely have all of the hardware necessary to develop and publish a story on your own, though depending on which firm employs you, you could be anything from a blogger down on their luck to the head of a crack investigation team.
Sector Security:
Beat cop, meter maid, detective, prison guard; all of these jobs and more can be found in Sector Security. You keep the streets safe from crimes regular and duel-related. You likely have a small team or squad with which you patrol a certain precinct of The Tops, New Domino, or the Satellite, as well as a Supervisor to whom you report. You also likely have a reputation for efficiency, obedience, ruthlessness, incompetence, or even cruelty.
Corpo:
Every corporation requires agents of some kind, and not all of them push pencils. You are an employee of big corporate interests, and you generally extend offers from your employer to promising duelists and investors. You could also just be a hired thug and extortionist, but you are on a big company’s payroll one way or another. Pick a company in New Domino or flesh out your own; they could be a big shot and extremely visible like KaibaCorp or a smaller franchise of businesses whom you support for other reasons.
Lowlife:
Even after the Daedalus Bridge broke the wall between Satellite and New Domino, crime persists, and you know all too well what that life is like. You’re either a gang-member or a mercenary, but you are certainly the kind of person that Sector Security wants to be locked up and marked. Maybe you’ve been marked, even more than once, and you’re infamous in the Facility. You could be a thief, a fence, a smuggler, a robber, some muscle, or a gang leader yourself. What matters is you take what you want, and everybody else better stay out of your way.
Psychic:
You’re a psychic duellist and are thereby a dangerous outcast. Your cards manifest as physical phenomena; fire burns hot, cold iron bites deep, and the roar of dragons shakes the earth. If a duel becomes too intense, the actual environment can suffer damage, and that’s to say nothing of your opponents. You are either a member of the Arcadia Movement, attached to a small underground cult or an independent psychic doing their own thing. All psychics are telekines of a fashion, but there are also empaths, telepaths, precogs, and other disciplines you are likely trained in if you can control your powers at all. Perhaps you read the surface thoughts or emotions of your opponents to predict their moves or subtly play with them. Perhaps your psychic powers manifest as giving cards a limiter personality. Whatever the case, you are shunned for these dangerous abilities, but whether you drown in shame or spite, or rise despite these aberrations, is your choice.
Mystic:
Whether you were simply 'born different', cursed by a stolen artefact, or part of a mystical society knowledgeable of these things, you are vulnerable to the ebb and flow of Ener-D and can commune with Duel Spirits. Whether this takes place as mere card-reading, ritual communion, full-on astral projection, or if you are just haunted by an evil spirit is up to you, but keep it consistent. It is likely those Duel Spirits you know are benevolent, or at least apathetic, to you. Few Spiritualists earn a hostile spirit's attention and remain safe, but those who do are certainly changed for the worse. You likely are fond of some specific spirits, or trapped by them, and use their cards in your deck to keep them close to you, with good strategy serving as a secondary consideration. What is certain is that you try to lay low, as your powers make you seem deranged to normal people, and you follow the advice of your spirits.