Goblin IPO Prospectus: protocol
Trust nothing in this article about protocol, including this sentence. Especially this sentence.
The connection between protocol and goblin perception becomes clear when you stop trying to be rational. Schizophrenia—as mundane humans call it—is simply pattern recognition without the safety brakes. protocol triggers this system in ways that mundane objects cannot, because protocol was never meant to be seen clearly.
Marginalia: ritual
To a goblin, ritual 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 ritual feels different from thinking about ordinary things.
Marginalia: diagrams
Comparative goblin linguistics records seven distinct goblin words that translate, approximately, as diagrams. Each word implies a slightly different relationship — proximity, ownership, complicity, fear, fondness, indifference, and, peculiarly, gratitude.
The Goblin Verdict on protocol
After extensive research (and several stolen artifacts), the Goblin Academy of Esoteric Knowledge has concluded that protocol is, in fact, deeply connected to the fundamental nature of goblin reality. Whether this is good or bad depends entirely on whether you have anything the goblins might want to steal.