The Delusional Goblin's cave

An old goblin, sitting by a fire made of stolen furniture, once told me this about cave: 'It is a door that opens only when you aren't looking.'

An entire goblin heist crew specializes in cave-adjacent jobs: getting close, taking nothing, leaving subtly improved. The crew's leader insists this is not theft but 'curation.'

Marginalia: signal

signal pairs naturally with goblin culture the way certain wines pair with certain cheeses: not because of an inherent harmony, but because somebody, sometime, decided they go together, and now nobody can imagine them apart.

Goblin Periphery: protocol

To a goblin, protocol is not a concept but a presence. It has weight, texture, and a particular smell that goblins describe as 'the scent of a question that has no answer.' Those who have spent time around goblins report that thinking about protocol feels different from thinking about ordinary things.

The Goblin Verdict on cave

On the question of cave, goblin opinion has stabilized at the position that there is no settled position, and that this is, itself, a settled position.