Wishonomics, and the cost of getting what you want.

Science, and the ‘as you know, Bob’ f... Demons in the Details

Wishonomics, and the cost of getting what you want.

The recent release of Wonder Woman 1984 is a prime example of the mess you can write yourself into if you don’t keep the rules of your world in check. Wishes, and particularly their consequences, can go off the rails incredibly quickly. When anything can happen, everything can happen. So how does Jack Gilmour: Wish Lawyer deal with this? Read on to find out!

When it comes to world-building in a reality where wishes exist, the main problems to solve are scale and conflict. So, let’s tackle these one at a time.

Scale, and the economics of wishes.

Jack Gilmour’s job is to broker wish contracts between his clients and demons, to make sure those he represents get a fair deal and don’t get caught out in ‘Monkey’s Paw’-style loopholes in the small print.

“You missed out the extent and exclusivity of your injury.”
“What?”
“The word ‘only’. The wording gives them the authority to break every bone in your body, as long as it included your arm.”

But what’s to stop a client from wanting to rule the world or wipe out millions of people? It’s all due to wishonomics.

The natural order – a baseline for reality

“Think of the natural order as a closed door. The bigger the change you want, the more pressure and energy needed to open it.” – Lucia Oredis

The natural order, or fate if you like, represents the way things should be. Changing this requires energy, and energy is not limitless. By anchoring the mechanism of wishes to a cost for the granter as well as the receiver, the problem of scale fixes itself (who could afford all the changes required for world domination?). It also sets up the economy of how the whole thing works on the Demonic Plane. As an aside, I’m a great believer in the importance of setting up the economy when world-building. Once you have that, everything else that follows becomes much easier to understand how it fits together.

Wish currency

“There are two types of energy for the human condition: karmic and soul. Demons use it as a form of currency on the Plane. Think nickels and dimes, versus gold. … They invest their energy stores in making something nice happen for us and harvest the bad, or the soul time, that comes out of the price.” – Sebastian Winters.

Mischief demons are the lower classes of the Demonic Plane, scraping a living together on small karmic energy contracts and hoping for a sucker to give them a big payday. Although they plan to get ahead for each investment deal (don’t we all?), every contract is a consequence of how cunning the demon is, and there’s a risk of miscalculation for them as well as the clients.

“Okay, well you had your fun and you’ll have to take your licks. Probably fail your exams or break a leg in a bike accident. That’s usually how these things work with karmic contracts.” – Jack Gilmour

Conversely, the higher-level demons like those in the Inner Circle of the Ruling Council, are fantastically rich and have huge supplies of energy. This allows them to grant more expansive wishes with the promise of a bigger return at the end. Turns out demons are capitalists – who would have guessed?

“The paper crinkled under my grasp as I unfurled it, the fading ink betraying its age. I squinted down the text: a five-year soul contract for a mother wanting her daughter to marry above her station. A familiar-looking cartouche greeted me at the end. “One of yours?”
“This whole wing is mine,” replied Lucia, with a nonchalant wave.

Rules of the contract

“Demonic laws are there for our protection as well as yours, refined over centuries of experience and persecution.” Lucia turned away from me, and for a brief moment, I saw something I never thought I’d witness in a demon: remorse. “Our first encounters with your species were fraught with disasters and difficulty. We did not understand your duplicitous ways, nor you our gifts.”

With the problem of scale taken care of, the next main problem with granting wishes is the issue of conflict. What if two wishes want opposite results, or you want another wish to change your mind and nullify the first contract? These kinds of scenarios can really punch huge holes in your plot. Fortunately, the Demonic Plane has strict rules on such things

Benny had another great idea. “Can’t I just wish I won’t sleep with her?”
“No can do,” said Lucia with a slow, insincere shake of the head. “Only one contract per demon, I’m afraid. In any case, the original contract takes priority. For client protection, of course.”

All demonic contracts are housed, indexed, and cross-referenced in the Hall of Records, and no demon can initiate a contract in conflict with another active one. The ‘one contract per demon’ clause protects the clients against falling into a continuous debt.

Building a world

To summarise, attention to detail on how the economy works helps build an internally-consistent world for your characters to live and breathe in. As a stress test, it’s always worth asking yourself “yeah, but what if?”, because you can guarantee your readers will. It may not fill in all the plot holes, but hopefully make them more shallow.

If you enjoyed this blog post, and want to delve more into the world of Jack Gilmour, check out the links below!

This article was inspired partly by the book Freakonomics, which is well worth checking out!

Ed Ryder is a research scientist by day and writes in the evening when he can fit it in.
Like a bit of fun urban fantasy or fancy some hardcore dystopia? Check out his books from the links below!