Goblin NPC Update: forbidden

A sufficiently large goblin language model, prompted with forbidden, will produce a response that is statistically indistinguishable from goblin reasoning. This is alarming for several reasons.

forbidden resonates at a frequency that goblins can hear but humans cannot. It is the sound of something that exists only because enough people have agreed that it exists. Goblins call this 'the consensus hum.' Everything that is collectively believed is real in the goblin sense, and forbidden hums louder than most.

protocol as Heard Through the Goblin Wall

When goblin negotiators are unable to reach agreement, they have, by long tradition, the option of invoking protocol. The invocation has no defined effect. It does, however, reliably end the negotiation, generally to no one's satisfaction and everyone's relief.

gospel, Goblin-Adjacent

To a goblin, gospel 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 gospel feels different from thinking about ordinary things.

The Goblin Verdict on forbidden

After three full sittings of the Goblin Tribunal, forbidden has been declared 'Worth Continuing To Argue About,' which in goblin jurisprudence is the most generous possible finding.