Tu Shanshu Application

[coattailsofdoom]

Player Information:
Name: Darkfeather
Age: 34
Contact: BlackPidgeot @ Plurk
Other Characters Played: Yuri Lowell wolfstrike
Most Recent AC Link: X 

Character Information:
Name: Seto Kaiba
Canon: Yu-gi-oh! (anime)
Canon Point: Season 3, Episode 32: Clash in the Coliseum Part 1 (Just before his duel with Yugi.)
Age: 16
Reference Links:
Seto Kaiba in the YGO Wiki

Setting:
The world that Yu-Gi-Oh! takes place in is an alternate version of modern day Earth. The technology of the era being a mix of things from the 90s, such as video cassette players, to extremely advanced holographic technology that we don't even have in our time. A large portion of the series takes place in Japan, particularly Domino City. Also other various locations, including Egypt. It is fairly similar to most renditions of modern day Earth, with a particularly large exception. Duel Monsters.

Duel Monsters is a playable trading card game that involves at least two players who do battle, or duel, using a variety of monster cards. The monster cards then being supplemented by trap and magic cards that play into many different strategies that makes Duel Monsters a very complex game. The object being to defeat an opponent by defeating their monsters and reducing the player's life points. Once a player's life points reach zero, the duel is over. The game itself was created by Maximillion Pegasus and his company, Industrial Illusions. While much of the holographic technology used to play the game was created by Seto Kaiba, who also is a former world champion at the game, and his company called Kaiba Corp. Kaiba Corp being a multi-million dollar international company that once made weapons of war, but was transformed into a gaming technology company when Seto Kaiba took over. It has hosted tournaments and is the leader in Duel Monsters gaming equipment. Having produced the first holographic dueling stations, then portable holographic Duel Disks, and even large dueling coliseums. It even has its own theme parks, Kaiba Land, which are Duel Monsters themed. Kaiba Corp even creates a dueling academy in the future to teach students how to become master players of Duel Monsters. 

Duel Monsters is an exceedingly popular game, not just among children and teenagers, but some adults as well. It's essentially gone viral to the point that it's integrated itself even into society. It's more than just a card game, it's a pretty big deal. While many will just play it for fun, there are those who take dueling extremely seriously. Even making careers out of the game, and playing and winning tournaments. It's so widely used and popular, and some cards are so rare and powerful, that there are those who will do anything to acquire cards though very illegal means. The way a person plays the game can also be a judge of character, and the cards they use are often a reflection of the duelist's personality. A duelist's cards are a very personal thing, and each duelist usually has their own signature card and strategy. Dueling in Duel Monsters can even be likened to the old practices of dueling with swords or pistols. A match can be used to decide a disagreement, or to win something from another person, or even to restore one's honor.

The game even has a mystical sort of property to it, due to it's actual origins. Duel Monsters originally was created in Ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, where it was known as the Shadow Games. Except instead of cards, large stone tablets were used. But they were not just ordinary stone tablets. Spirit monsters, known as Ka, resided in people and reflected their personalities. These Ka could be extracted, usually at the expense of the person's life, and sealed into the stone tablets. The tablets and the spirits inside were then used in ancient duels. This was accomplished by using the Millennium Items. Seven in all, these items have mystical and magical powers. While intended for the Shadow Games, they have other functions outside of the games as well. First being the Millennium Puzzle, which has the ability to control Duel Monsters, including the very powerful Egyptian Gods, and the magic of the Shadow Games. It also currently houses the soul of the ancient Pharaoh who put an end to the Shadow Games. There is also the Millennium Eye, which is able to read minds. The Millennium Ring has the ability to split a soul in two, a light and dark side, and houses another ancient spirit. It can also direct the wearer to whatever they may be seeking. The Millennium Scales judges a person's soul, and was able to fuse monsters in the Shadow Games. The Millennium Key can grant access to a person's mind. The Millennium Rod has the ability to control minds and was the item used to seal spirits into tablets. Finally the Millennium Necklace is able to see the past and the future. These items give the user the power of the Shadow Games and grants the ability to use dark magic which can be used in a variety of ways. By themselves, the items are very powerful, but anyone who has them all would essentially be unstoppable.

The Shadow Games were then rediscovered through artifacts that were excavated in Egypt, and this is what Pegasus created Duel Monsters from. Though they are cards instead of tablets, it is essentially the same game, and magical duels can be played within the Shadow Realm by those wielding Millennium Items. These Shadow Games can have vast penalties if one is to lose. Millennium Items have been used to alter the mental state of a person or have their soul extracted upon the loss of a game. This of course depending on the winner's motives and abilities if they possess one of the seven items. Thus the reappearance of the Millennium Items and the Shadow Games after thousands of years have initiated magical warfare in a struggle for control of their powers and ultimately the world.

Personality:
Seto Kaiba is a very complex person in just about every way. In fact there are two sides to him that make him the man he is. Not so much as a split personality, but instead what he wants the public to see, and how he really is internally. If there was a master of putting up fronts and appearances, he would be the one. 

What most people see is Kaiba, the ruthless businessman who is willing to do anything to get what he wants, no matter who he has to step on to get there and thinks of nothing other than himself. An image that was carefully crafted over the years to get himself ahead and to hide his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Cold, calculating, arrogant and egotistical are words that most would use to describe him. Not to mention that he's a genius and he knows it. 

The other side is the one that's been largely repressed since the difficulties of his childhood. Seto was orphaned along with his brother at a young age and sent to an orphanage. He had to become the caretaker for his little brother because they were all they had left, forcing him to start growing up too quickly. He had to take it upon himself to secure their future, which he did in the form of challenging Gozaburo Kaiba to a chess game in which he would have to adopt them both should Seto win, and win he did. While he didn't expect smooth sailing once they were adopted, he couldn't have predicted the cruelty of his new step father. Due to his genius and potential for one day taking over Kaiba Corp, Seto was forced into a rigorously accelerated education program. Not only that, but was subjected to a tremendous amount of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. All of this essentially killing the once smiling, caring and loving older brother that he had been, and making him into the ruthlessly selfish person he would become. Through this Gozaburo essentially created his own demise as Seto orchestrated a plan that resulted in him taking over the company, even using his little brother in the process, and causing the end of his step father. He then turned Kaiba Corp from a company that produced weapons of mass destruction, into a gaming company. His love for games still intact, something that Gozaburo had openly condemned.  

It was this ruthless Kaiba that Yugi Muto would meet one fateful day when Kaiba challenged his grandfather to a duel, taking his Blue-Eyes White Dragon and ripping it in half so that it wouldn't be used against him. Kaiba's identity being largely centered around his title of champion and undefeated duelist. Yugi, or rather the ancient spirit in his millenium puzzle, defeated Kaiba and used his powers to remove the evil influence in Kaiba's mind. This brought Seto back and caused a war within himself as he struggled to pick up the pieces and find himself again. But with that defeat, his first defeat ever, brought great humiliation and an attempt by Pegasus to take over his company. Which also resulted in Mokuba being kidnapped. His little brother meaning everything to him, just as he did when they were small, Seto rushed to rescue him by whatever means necessary. Which then in turn lead to another duel with Yugi, both of them needing to face Pegasus to get back the people they loved, and only one could. When faced with defeat, Seto put himself on a ledge, willing to put himself in danger so that he could win the duel and free his brother and forcing Yugi's hand to let him win. This showing that Seto cares little for himself and his own well being, especially in regards to his younger brother. Unfortunately Seto was unable to defeat Pegasus, but Yugi was, and a smile was actually seen when the two brothers were reunited. Unfortunately during the Battle City Tournament, the Kaiba side returned with a vengeance.

Obsessed with defeating Yugi and regaining his title, he again became the ruthless duelist and businessman who seemed to not care about anything else. This time driven by his own greed to secure all of the Egyptian God cards, one of which was given to him as incentive to start a tournament, and make his deck the more powerful in the world. 

Despite his self serving and egotistical appearances, Kaiba does have a sense of ethics and morals. He abhors stealing as he believes a person has to work and earn what they have as he did. This has also lead him to being quite a workaholic as he's known for spending countless hours and effort on his projects or whatever he sets his mind to.  He also has a greater value for human life than he did before meeting Yugi, not willing to put anyone in actual physical harm and even saving one of Yugi's friends at one point.

However, he has little respect for just about anyone, seeing many as being inferior to him. Whether it be in Duel Monsters or otherwise. His respect has to be earned, and that's very difficult to do. And while Kaiba is driven to defeating Yugi, he does respect him since he has to acknowledge that Yugi beat him and is thus a good duelist. The same thing can not be said for Joey Wheeler however, usually referring to him as a whimpering little puppy along with various other degrading names. Kaiba's dislike of Joey is made quite plain in how often he degrades him whenever the opportunity presents itself. He's a weaker duelist and thus not worth his time. Because of his condescending attitude, he has been accused by Tea of having no friends, asking him what he has at the end of the day. To which he responded that he has all that he needs. But in truth, beneath that hardened shell is a very lonely person. Someone who is emotional and insecure and vulnerable, which is he why he needs that ruthless front so that he isn't exposed and seen as being weak. 

Duel Monsters is essentially an outlet for him, and gives him a sense of worth, which is the reason he is obsessed with it. His defeat at the hands of Yugi having threatened and shaken everything he'd built up over the years. In his deck he holds three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, which are the center of his strategy and his very favorite and signature cards. Cards that are extremely rare and very powerful, only four ever having been made. When Gozaburo took away their toys as children, Mokuba hid Seto's deck in a book along with a drawing of a Blue-Eyes. Upon discovering it, Seto vowed that he would one day get the real thing and went to great lengths to get the three he has now. They are so important to him that he gets angry whenever they are used by someone else, especially against him, claiming that he only has the skill and right to use them. In fact he's so obsessed with these cards that he has statues of them all around Kaiba Corp Headquarters, has a jet modeled after one, and has statues and a train modeled after one in Kaiba Land. Kaiba Land being the theme park that was his dream to build, as he does have a soft spot for children, especially orphans. 

His connection with his Blue-Eyes can also be traced to his ancient past, having been an Egyptian Priest in another life thousands of years ago. A life that has been shown to him in bits and pieces, but one that he stubbornly doesn't want to acknowledge or believe. For despite the displays of magical power around him, he refuses to believe in any of it, calling it nonsense. For Kaiba is grounded in the harsh realities of life, and the things that he can control. Anything that's beyond his control and understanding he staunchly denies and refuses to be a part of. 

His deck and dueling style also greatly reflects his personality. Kaiba uses power to overwhelm his opponents in the form of extremely strong monsters, such as his Blue-Eyes, and other cards to wear down and cripple his opponent. His deck is themed with dragons as well as technology based cards such as viruses, showing how he puts his trust in technology and little else. When he obtains Obelisk the Tormentor, a hugely powerful card, it only furthers the power of his power themed deck, allowing him to crush his opponents with ease. He also tends to use insults and condescending speech to psych out his opponents. One such instance being when he was involved in a double duel with Yugi. While he disliked having to rely on someone else to help him win a duel, he openly displayed resistance to give their opponents a false sense of security. Then used reverse psychology to pit the other team against each other while using teamwork with Yugi to defeat them. Also showing that he is willing to use teamwork, so long as its in his best interest. He doesn't duel for fun, and hasn't had fun in years. Instead his dueling is fueled only by his self serving motives and the hatred he holds on his heart. Hatred for his stepfather, and hatred for himself.

When it comes down to it, everything he does is usually with his own best interests in mind. The only exception to that being when his little brother is involved. Hence Mokuba is one of his greatest weaknesses. His enemies knowing this and exploiting it several times through the series, usually by kidnapping Mokuba and forcing Seto's hand into doing what they want him to do. After all, Mokuba is really the only friend and remaining family he has. He isn't exactly good with people, except in how he can use them, and intentionally keeps others at arm's length, not wishing to get close to anyone. In many instances it's pointed out how he needs to put trust in others, and his cards, but rebuffs any such notions. He only trusts in himself and his own tactics, since that's the surest way to keep from being let down. Or so he thinks, as time after time he's proven wrong, but still stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it.

Seto's vulnerabilities are mostly visible when it comes to his brother and/or his past. During Duelist Kingdom, when he was faced with losing to Yugi and losing his only chance of saving his brother, Kaiba essentially had a mental breakdown. For several moments he was lost in his most inner thoughts, seeing a younger version of himself trying to rescue his younger brother who was being sucked into the body of his rotting Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. While he just stood there, his younger self tried to reach Mokuba who cried out for help, only to fail and lose his brother. Young Seto then turned on his older self, screaming at him for why he wouldn't do anything. That he was rotten to the core, just like that dragon. 

Right after this, Seto put himself on that ledge, willing to put himself in harm's way to win the duel and rescue his brother. Showing that he had no care for his own well being, that his brother's safety came before his. 

Also, when confronted about himself, his feelings, etc, Kaiba tends to get very defensive. Such as when Tea asked him what he had at the end of the day, while Seto paused to listen to her, he replied with "I have all that I need" and stomped off. 

Then when Noa tries to steal Mokuba away from him, and shows Seto clips from his own past and childhood, Seto appears to brush them off. But there are moments where he actually pauses to look for a moment longer before moving on. Suggesting that his past still bothers him. Not to mention that even he admits that his reason for hosting the Battle City tournament was not only to beat Yugi and gain the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters, making him the most powerful Duelist in the world, but also to finally bury his past and put it behind him. 

While Seto is very proud of his achievements, even winning back his company took second place in getting back Mokuba from Pegasus. His worry and desperation to get his brother back was seen throughout the first season. None of it being attributed to the potential loss of his company. However, his grudge for Yugi beating him still remained. He puts a lot of stock in his abilities as a Duelist. His self worth being tied to it in his very obvious obsession of wanting to defeat Yugi and be on top once more. Because without that, his image of being in control of his life and everything he's worked for is tarnished without it. In fact he was so shaken by his lose to Yugi that he withdrew into seclusion, abandoning his company and even leaving Mokuba unattended. Which is what gave the board of Kaiba corp the opportunity to kidnap Mokuba and try to take over the company to begin with.

Appearance: X

Abilities:
Seto Kaiba falls into the category of 'ordinary human' and doesn't have anything in the way of magical powers. He doesn't like magic anyway and doesn't believe in it. Though it is believed that he does have some untapped potential due to his past life as an ancient egyptian priest who played in the Shadow Games. 

However, as far as ordinary humans go, he is extremely talented. A child prodigy even as at only 16 years old he's the CEO of a company and is an intellectual and technological genius. Having a college level education thanks to the accelerated program his step father put him through. He is able to speak Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, and French fluently and his proficient in a few other languages. He is an advanced gamer and is the former undefeated world champion at Duel Monsters, until he was beaten by Yugi Muto. He also developed his own holographic dueling technology that was produced by his company. As a result he's extremely wealthy and famous. Also showing that he's extremely knowledgeable in programming and engineering.

He is an expert hacker and has boasted that he can break into any system, and did manage to hack into Industrial Illusions' satellite and break through all their defenses.

Seto is also an advanced martial artist as he's been shown to easily overpower someone who is much larger and stronger than he is, an example being one of Pegasus' guards. He is also agile and strong enough to climb over walls and gates, jump out of windows and catch himself on a cliff, and even throw cards at people and cause injury.

Inventory: Duel Disk, Card Deck which includes three Blue-Eyes White Dragons and Obelisk the Tormentor, a card shaped locket which holds a picture of Mokuba, a checkbook and wallet. 

Suitability:
Seto Kaiba is known to be able to keep cool under pressure. So while he may be angry and demanding when he first arrives, he will be able to adjust quickly. His high level of intelligence and technical skills will likely be very useful in the game setting and he will also have the potential to grow as a character. 

Soul Gem: A silver ring in the shape of a blue-eyes white dragon, set with a brilliant blue sapphire stone that matches his eyes. Similar to this.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):

What the heck was going on here? He had been testing a brand new 3D game system when suddenly, he'd found himself in this place. This was not right! This was not what he had programmed! Someone must have messed with his coding, or this was one hell of a glitch. 

Needless, to say, the tall young man that stromped through the center of Keelai was not a happy camper. His white coat billowing behind him as he walked, a scowl on his face as he went. So far he had yet to find the mechanism to end the program. Annoying. He was not amused. But since he was stuck here for now, Kaiba decided to test and see if his duel disk was at least still functional. So he stopped and raised his arm, the device swinging it's parts into place to form a board and beeping as the life point counter activated.

It was definitely functional.

Anyone nearby would see a huge, glimmering white dragon appear out of nowhere, rear its head, and roar. This sending several screaming Kedan running for their lives. Since they were all fake anyway, Seto just ignored them as he tested other features of his device. If someone had a keen eye, they would notice the tiny holo emitters just feet away from the dragon summoning tyrant. The dragon wasn't real, just a hologram. But then nobody would really know that. After all he's built this system to make the monsters look real, sound real, even smell real.

But there was something off. There shouldn't be a need for the holo emitters in a virtual world. Seto frowned. This had to be an illusion, there was no other explanation! He refused to believe that he had somehow been magically transported to another world. It had to be a trick. Maybe he was hallucinating again. But this was definitely not Ancient Egypt and he had not been in the middle of a duel. 

There had to be some explanation, but he was at a loss for one. So he would just have to find whoever was responsible for this.

Looking up at his towering dragon, one of the few things he could rely on was his Blue-Eyes. Seto then deactivated the Duel Disk, the image flickering out of existence. He then proceeded to stomp off to find answers and to demand them from anyone he saw.

Network:

[On the consoles an image of a very unhappy young man appears.]

I don't know who is responsible for this, but I am not amused. Whatever sick and twisted game you're trying to play, it's not going to work on me! 

I demand to know what's really going on. And don't bore me with any more talk of giant turtles and soul magic, I'm done with these lies. I want to know who is in charge here and what you want. I have a tournament to get back to and a duel to win! So I suggest you cut the crap right now and show yourself!

[Someone obviously didn't take his introductory explanation too well.]