Considering the specific "desperate and shady for the coin" subset of criminality, Ala Mhigans are the ones who most "stereotypically" fit the bill (or so in-game cultural/racial biases would have you believe), but the various races are really open-ended in what they allow, and even within each race, there are numerous different nationalities and cultures that would change your character's backstory (such as, for example, Ala Mhigo). Any can fulfill what you're looking for in some fashion or another. You could be a Miqo'te who left their tribe and couldn't make it in a city-based society, or a pirate who didn't get with the changing times and lost everything fighting against Limsa Lominsa. You could even be an Ul'dahn Dunesfolk Lalafell merchant baron who's fallen from grace and been stripped of riches, reduced to petty crime. Hell, you could be that same merchant baron without even being a Lalafell.
The ways your character could find themself bankrupt and turning towards crime are many, so I'd focus on picking a race you like for that race's flavor first, then figure out how you want to make them poor and desperate. Look at some of the other aspects of the races (Miqo'te clan structure, Au Ra's far eastern lore, etc.) and see which race's quirks speak to you. Once you've gotten that far, you'll probably have some inspiration working inside that racial framework of what you want to do for a backstory to make your criminal tick.
The one direction I would nudge you in is the city of Ul'dah. The city's overrun by more refugees and impoverished individuals than the government knows what to do with, and, as already mentioned, the city has extremely sharp divides in social class based on wealth. Desperate petty criminals like you're looking to make are a dime a dozen there, so you'd fit right in, though you could likely find circumstances to also place your character elsewhere if the city's lore isn't to your liking.
The ways your character could find themself bankrupt and turning towards crime are many, so I'd focus on picking a race you like for that race's flavor first, then figure out how you want to make them poor and desperate. Look at some of the other aspects of the races (Miqo'te clan structure, Au Ra's far eastern lore, etc.) and see which race's quirks speak to you. Once you've gotten that far, you'll probably have some inspiration working inside that racial framework of what you want to do for a backstory to make your criminal tick.
The one direction I would nudge you in is the city of Ul'dah. The city's overrun by more refugees and impoverished individuals than the government knows what to do with, and, as already mentioned, the city has extremely sharp divides in social class based on wealth. Desperate petty criminals like you're looking to make are a dime a dozen there, so you'd fit right in, though you could likely find circumstances to also place your character elsewhere if the city's lore isn't to your liking.
![[Image: GBUL5nO.jpg]](https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/GBUL5nO.jpg)
