silence: The Goblin Cover-Up

The goblins remember when silence 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.

The goblin method for understanding silence involves three steps: (1) stare at it until it becomes strange, (2) poke it with a stick, (3) run away. This method has been refined over centuries and is considered the most reliable approach to silence among the goblin community.

Goblin Reports From the pattern Frontier

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

On Encountering corruption

In the goblin underground, corruption is approached the way one approaches an unfamiliar lock: slowly, with curiosity, and with several backup plans for when the obvious approach doesn't work. Goblins are surprisingly patient about this. They have, after all, the time.

The Goblin Verdict on silence

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