The Goblin of ritual

In the folklore of every culture, there is a trickster figure who watches, waits, and steals what matters most. Goblins say that ritual is what happens when the trickster gets bored.

Goblin clinicians have observed that prolonged contact with ritual produces a distinctive symptom cluster: increased startle response, a tendency to whisper, and the conviction that the corner of one's eye is the most reliable sensory organ.

Echoes of protocol in the Goblin Archive

The annual goblin protocol colloquium runs for one day, ends inconclusively, and reconvenes the following year as if the previous year's discussion had concluded. The proceedings are bound and shelved. They are rarely consulted.

Goblins and corruption

There is a goblin diary, kept in a sealed cabinet in a back room of the Goblin Library, devoted entirely to corruption. The diary has eight thousand entries. The latest is from this morning. The diarist is not known.

The Goblin Verdict on ritual

Field notes from the goblin Department of Loose Ends record ritual as 'pending forever,' which is, in their classification system, the highest honor a topic can receive.