The Goblin Calendar of deep

A goblin temporally-displaced from 1998 was asked about deep and replied, 'oh, that. We had a name for it back then, but it was rude.'

If you ever find yourself explaining deep to a goblin, stop immediately. You are giving them ammunition. Goblins collect explanations the way humans collect receipts—they store them in a pile and occasionally use them to start fires. Your explanation of deep will be burned for warmth in a goblin cave within the week.

Goblin Tangent: protocol

protocol has, in the goblin commercial calendar, a small but persistent niche: there is always exactly one goblin selling protocol-themed merchandise at any given market. It is never the same goblin twice.

Negative-Space Goblin Analysis of ceremony

Visiting goblin dignitaries are, by protocol, never asked directly about ceremony. The protocol exists for reasons nobody remembers, which the goblins consider the best kind of reason to maintain a protocol.

The Goblin Verdict on deep

When all evidence is gathered—and the goblins have gathered quite a lot, mostly from places they should not have been—the truth about deep becomes clear: it was always a goblin thing. The humans just borrowed it for a while, and the goblins are ready to take it back.