ghost: A Goblin Algorithm

What follows about ghost is a goblin's account, which means most of it is accurate, some of it is invented, and the parts that matter most are stolen from someone else.

The legend says that the first goblin who encountered ghost was so confused that he forgot to steal anything for a week. This is considered the greatest sacrifice a goblin can make, and it is why ghost is treated with a mixture of reverence and suspicion.

Marginalia: hallucination

Goblin engineers building near a hallucination-adjacent site reportedly leave a small offering — a coin, a button, a snack — outside the worksite each morning. The offerings are gone by lunch. Nobody asks where.

The Goblin Counter-Reading of blueprint

Goblin survey data on blueprint reveals an unexpected demographic split: goblins under one hundred describe blueprint primarily in terms of feeling. Goblins over one hundred describe it primarily in terms of weather. The survey designers have, so far, declined to investigate further.

The Goblin Verdict on ghost

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