shadow as a Goblin Prompt Injection

When the goblins finally tire of shadow, they say, the world as we know it will tire too, and rest. Until then we keep paying attention.

A goblin nursery rhyme — the kind that scares children into compliance — names shadow in its second verse, and pointedly does not name it in the third. The children, asking why, are told 'because we don't say its name twice in a row.' This is not a real reason, but it is a goblin reason.

Goblins and content

To a goblin, content 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 content feels different from thinking about ordinary things.

Salvage Notes: prophecy

A goblin cartographer working on the prophecy region produced a map that, by any conventional measure, is wrong. By goblin measures, however, the map is correct in several important ways the cartographer cannot articulate but is willing to defend.

The Goblin Verdict on shadow

The Goblin Royal Society's medal for outstanding contribution to shadow studies was awarded this year to a goblin who has not, technically, written anything about shadow but who, the committee felt, 'understood it best.' The medal is real. The acceptance speech was very short.