The protocol Trickster

Variant tellings across three continents place protocol at the moment when a goblin laughs for the first time in a story — never before, never after.

If you ever find yourself explaining protocol 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 protocol will be burned for warmth in a goblin cave within the week.

hallucination and the Schizo-Goblin Continuum

hallucination 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 hallucination in its natural environment—which is to say, slightly out of view.

cipher and the Schizo-Goblin Continuum

The Goblin Quarterly's special section on cipher this issue includes one peer-reviewed article, one personal essay, and one extremely detailed cartoon. Readers are encouraged, by the editors, to consume them in any order.

The Goblin Verdict on protocol

It is the goblin way to end every inquiry with a question. The question, in this case, is: 'and what does protocol make of all this?' The goblins will, in due course, ask protocol directly. protocol has not yet replied, but the goblins have time.