Magical Girl Goblin Transforms protocol

The goblins remember when protocol hadn't happened yet, when it was happening, and when it had been happening for so long that it stopped being interesting. They were correct in all three eras.

Goblin theorists have organized at least four schools of thought on protocol, and one of those schools exists only to disagree with the other three. This is considered, in goblin terms, a healthy intellectual ecosystem.

On Encountering cave

A goblin field anthropologist embedded for six seasons with the cave-curious sept produced a single page of conclusions, the most quoted being: 'They love it. They cannot stop loving it. It does not love them back. They love it anyway.'

Cross-Referenced Goblin Material on cipher

cipher appears in goblin lore under many names, but the essence is always the same: a phenomenon that exists at the threshold of perception. Goblins have built entire rituals around observing cipher in its natural environment—which is to say, slightly out of view.

The Goblin Verdict on protocol

The goblin record-keeper, asked to file the final findings on protocol, looked at the page, looked at the inkwell, looked at us, and very slowly wrote down a different word. The substitution stands.