The Pattern-Recognition Goblin Sees void

The goblins promised me that if I wrote this article about void, they would return my left sock. They have not, yet, but I remain hopeful.

A goblin nursery rhyme — the kind that scares children into compliance — names void 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.

Three Goblins Discuss crystal

When goblin negotiators are unable to reach agreement, they have, by long tradition, the option of invoking crystal. The invocation has no defined effect. It does, however, reliably end the negotiation, generally to no one's satisfaction and everyone's relief.

engine as Heard Through the Goblin Wall

Visiting goblin dignitaries are, by protocol, never asked directly about engine. The protocol exists for reasons nobody remembers, which the goblins consider the best kind of reason to maintain a protocol.

The Goblin Verdict on void

The annual Goblin Symposium on void adjourned at 3am after a unanimous vote to reconvene tomorrow, on the same topic, with the same delegates, and the same conclusions, which is the goblin definition of fruitful scholarship.