Kobal's Personality

Kobal's only goal is to create for himself a temporary feeling of superiority over everything else in the Universe, and to prolong that feeling for as long as possible. He knows that he will ultimately fail, that some day God will wrap everything up, and either destroy him or, worse, render him powerless in some way. This concerns him, but at least he is better off than those who never realise the truth. To this end, he ensures that everyone he meets fears him, or hates him, or both. He also encourages those he meets to mock their fellows, since he can then feel doubly superior in his own refined contempt of both joker and victim.
His favoured Servitors are occasionally exceptions - if they can prove that they properly despise the world, he will allow them their own pleasure for as long as they can keep it. None of his demons ever knows whether they are truly favoured, or whether they are simply acting as the butt of another of Kobal's jokes. Kobal is whimsical in the extreme, since he has no ultimate desire. However one of his whims seems to be to carve for himself a little power in Hell. He always does this by taking it from another Prince, usually publicising his victory. But whenever an act seems to serve some complex purpose, that purpose will remain inscrutable. Whenever a scheme seems utterly without motive, it will shortly prove to have gained Kobal some invaluable prize. Of course this often provokes covert counterstrikes against his assets. This is not a problem: everything he has is utterly irrelevant to him, and he doesn't mind losing it so long as he forces his opponent to destroy it rather than steal it. Kobal will not stand being mocked. If any demon belittles him in any way, he will typically destroy them immediately. If the incident occurs in public, he forces them to admit that their comment was inaccurate, inarticulate and unfunny. He will ensure that all around think the worse of that demon for their stupidity. Only then will he destroy them, and possibly also those who witnessed the incident. Kobal does not like jokes. He never laughs, and if others laugh or joke around him, he will usually ask them to justify their levity. This applies as much to those who laugh at Kobal's own comments as to those who make jokes in his presence. Those few who can, without having the arrogance to share the laughter, cause others to laugh at the misfortunes, weaknesses or imperfections of others, will gain Kobal's favour, because this is the complete perversion of his former, Heavenly, word. Kobal does not in general make blatant displays of power - he feels no need to impress others with main force when he can do so much more with his intellect. He also realises that enforcing his will over another is aping God in a way which is doomed to failure - controlling others does not reduce God's power over Kobal. Only his knowledge of the secret of Mockery reduces the extent to which God can mock Kobal.