Note: This character is featured in a story. To avoid spoiling the whole story, some (juicy) details are excluded from the bio and some given information is based on the character's point of view and can be misleading.
Note 2: The story is a work in progress, and nothing is certain yet.

Appearance

"Well, hi, Karl. You look happy, what's wrong?"
Karl is 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall. He is fit and his physical condition is great, he has no extra fat in his body. He exercises regularly and he especially enjoys running. He has most of his strength on his legs, and even though he is generally in good shape, he still is quite skinny for not eating enough. Karl's face is angular and he has high cheekbones. His skin is light and he has a lot of moles on his face and body. His eyes are big and deep blue, and he has shadows under them since he has trouble sleeping. His hair is brown and eyebrows are thin.

Karl has a good and controlled posture. He rarely wears a genuine smile on his face, and most of the time he looks serious or slightly annoyed or concerned. He wears casual but stylish and well-fitted clothes, and he pays special attention to his appearance and personal hygiene. He is nearsighted and needs contacts to see properly at all; he has glasses as well but doesn't wear them if not necessary.

Skills

Karl has played piano and violin since he was a kid, and he definitely has some skill but currently he is a bit rusty for not exercising regularly. He was also in a choir and he has a powerful and a clear singing voice. He has an eye for visual arts, he can draw well and he absolutely loves painting.

Personality

"I have to warn you, though, he is a bad loser and even worse when he wins, so just go for it."
"I don't believe you. He's the kindest person I've ever met."
"Uh well, sorta, yeah, but when he plays, he's a 'victory or death' kind of guy."
"Sounds fascinating."
Karl is polite and kind, and people usually don't have anything bad to say about him, though he doesn't really stand out, either. It's easy to come along with him, but really knowing him is way more difficult. He pretty much lives to please people and he constantly ignores his own needs. Karl doesn't want to talk about his problems, and he doesn't tell it out loud if something is bothering him. He gets anxious easily if he has to face things that make him feel uneasy, and he has developed some ways to cope with the issues: simply escaping the situation, counting slowly to ten, drinking spirits, drawing. Facing the root cause of his anxiety is something he doesn't want to do, so he's just avoiding the real problem and pretends everything's fine. Occasionally his avoidance makes him act weirdly.

Karl has overcome a severe depression, but currently he is feeling fine enough and he is able to do things almost normally again. He was also struggling with anxiety and panic attacks, and still he is very cautious to not trigger them in a normal situation. He is very demanding of himself and his inner monologue is harsh as he blames himself for everything he does wrong. Karl is only rough to himself, he doesn't mind if other people make mistakes, and he is happy if he can help others. Most of the time it's really hard for him to find enjoyable things about life, but when he can do things he likes - like painting or running - he actually gets overwhelmed with joy he is able to feel.

Karl has a gentle and sweet nature, but he has a lot of fire hidden inside him. Usually it surprises people when they find out how competitive he is, especially in sports. When he's playing, he gains confidence and becomes a cocky and determined person who speaks his mind. When he's around people he trusts, he lets others see a glance at these traits: turns out that underneath his seemingly bland personality is a humorous, cheeky and gutsy guy.

Backstory

"I doubt I'm such a good deal after all, besides all other shit comes also a bunch of zealous relatives."
Karl is the only child for his parents, but the Huber family is big and he has a lot of relatives all around Germany and Austria. His mother was a music teacher, and she wanted her son to learn to play instruments. Karl's youthhood was filled with activities: besides playing violin and piano, he was in a choir, he played volleyball competitively, golfed with his father and went downhill skiing. His aunt Inga was the first person to encourage him to do what he wanted, and Karl really just wanted to draw, but his parents weren't really enthusiastic about his desire. Overall, his parents were really demanding, especially his mother. They were very religious as well, and whenever Karl had a slight piece of free time, he had to take part in various church activities.

Karl was almost eleven when they moved from Landshut to Munich. He was a smart, funny and athletic boy, but he started to feel off. In his teenage years he got in trouble with his mother, and he felt like he had to give his everything to make her forgive him. Karl focused on school to get good grades, he used extra hours to practice violin and combined with his volleyball playing Karl's days started to lack hours. He was tired all the time and he felt a horrible feeling inside him he already had been trying to ignore for years.  When he was seventeen, he had his first panic attack before a volleyball match, and everything went pretty much downhill after that. Karl was diagnosed with a severe depression and anxiety, so he got a medication, sick leave from school and some therapy. Karl was pondering the point in living, but he found out that painting made him feel slightly better, so he painted.

Karl was afraid of leaving home, so he used more time on the Internet and eventually started to chat with a girl called Brigitte who was having a hard time as well. They came along well, and helped each other to get through the days. Karl was feeling better and was able to meet Brigitte a couple of times, and finally they admitted they were too great together to be just friends, so they started dating. Karl was able to finish school and studied like crazy to get applied in a university in Duisburg. He got in and his parents were proud of him and his sensible career choice of mechanical engineering. His father bought an apartment for him in Essen where Karl's aunt Angelika also lived with her family.

Karl moved to Essen, and soon he noticed how much work he had to do to keep up with the studies. At the same time he was slowly quitting antidepressants, and even though he was looking forward to get rid of them completely, he was afraid of burning out and getting depressed again. He was very unhappy with everything and he also worried that he couldn't maintain his long-distance relationship with Brigitte who was the most important person in his life, so he became very troubled. He was glad when he randomly met a guy called Mikhail, because now he at least had someone to drink problems away with. Turned out that Mikhail's presence was exactly what he needed to get his life in order.

Extra info

• Is Catholic and has had a strict religious upbringing. Doesn't believe in God but claims his relatives otherwise.
• Likes to bake, but rarely eats the pastries. He doesn't like to eat much, anyway.
• Listens mostly to blues rock and jazz. He has a wide knowledge of music since he has played piano and violin, and even though he likes many music styles, he needs some gimmicks in his music to get the most of it.
• Knows some Bavarian because his family has lived in Bavaria for generations. He sometimes speaks it in short phrases to pay back for Mikhail when he talks Russian or Mandarin to him.
• His birthday is in January, and he is used to have it connected with Christmas celebrations.

Relationships (storywise meaningful ones)

Mikhail Belyakov - friend
Brigitte Schrader - girlfriend
Heike and Dieter Huber - parents
Angelika Dreiling - aunt (father's sister)
Inga Brunner - aunt (mother's sister)
Lukas Kracht - fellow student
Alexandra Schulte - fellow student

Trivia

• Karl was first created somewhere around 2010 for a story taking place in World War 2. I re-created him for this modern-era story in 2018.
• I've taken Karl's character's building very seriously... In addition to all other research starting for example from his last name, his dialect, Bavarian language and Catholic Mass in general, I've also traveled to Munich and Essen.