Literary Fiction Work titled "Deal's Worth"
by author Jeffrey Robert Palin Jr.
"Deal's Worth" Synopsis:
Eric is given the opportunity to create and modify a simulation-world. Eric's world includes unique features, intertwined systems mechanics, and it connects to other user-created worlds. After falling into a unique medical condition, the VRC, a virtual reality corporation, offers Eric a deal to enter and be a creator regarding the Simulation-multiverse. The Simulation-multiverse is a man-made nexus in which Eric, AGIs, and others are able to interact. Later, in Eric's Universe, a character named Jeff searches for Eric. Eric's completed world creation process had set the foundation for later adventures to occur, enabling Jeff and others to engage with Eric's world and its elements and features. The Simulation serves as a recreational pastime activity and is ""also designed to prevent individuals from experiencing extended periods of isolation and missed life opportunities whereby it prevents such by addressing the concern of hospital patients who may awaken after prolonged hospitalized states, such as a patient regaining consciousness after 30 years unconscious, only to discover they have limited time remaining (perhaps 15 years) to accomplish their life goals". Without such a simulation, these individuals might feel profoundly deprived of three decades' worth of potential experiences, relationships, and achievements they could have enjoyed had they remained conscious during their hospitalization".
The main story centers on a mysterious VRC organization that makes it possible for people to become universe creators (architects) and to genuinely experience the universes they create through brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and advanced computer simulation.
The organization is deliberately portrayed as ambiguous. It’s never entirely clear whether its motives extend beyond what is presented on the surface, leaving uncertain whether its true purpose is ultimately benevolent or driven by a hidden, more sinister agenda.
The simulated multiverse provides a strong foundation and plenty of potential for adventures, villains, conflicts, and mysteries. At the same time, it offers plenty of potential for entailing being relatable, thought-provoking, and mind-blowing.
The story begins with Eric, an ordinary man whose life is interrupted by catastrophic injury, leaving him hospitalized in a minimally conscious state. Representatives of the VRC, an organization existing outside reality’s digital simulation, offer him an extraordinary bargain: undergo brain-computer-interface surgery and become the creator of his own simulation universe. Eric accepts, and before entering it he designs not merely a world but an entire metaphysical system governing life, death, identity, morality, magic, and consciousness.
The resulting universe is governed by explicit, permanent rules rather than arbitrary miracles. Magic exists, but never replaces physics—it supplements it through observable physical actions rather than thought alone. Minds remain private; telepathy, magical lie detection, mind control, and punishment for unexpressed thoughts are categorically impossible. Consciousness cannot simply disappear, and no thinking existence truly ceases to exist.
Outside the simulation, natural law permanently binds a conscious being to its biological substrate. Inside the simulation, however, consciousness can continue through different physical forms without duplication. Rather than creating copies, transitions relocate a single continuous controlling thread into new embodiments. Identity therefore persists through continuity of existence, while biological configurations serve as the system’s way of tracking that continuing individual rather than constituting identity themselves. That is the working functional stable design that Eric implemented when it comes to his created universe.
Death is therefore transformed from annihilation into transition when it comes to Eric's Universe:
Every Physical Form 1 thinking existence (except each cursed object) moves through a structured afterlife system consisting of multiple Physical Forms and spirit/soul form. Depending upon the moral evaluation of one’s most recent biological life, a person proceeds toward different post-death possibilities, including “Options 1, 2, or 3”, voluntary service as a wish-granter capable of temporarily returning to Physical Form 1 to grant wishes for the living, or “evil twin” encounter. These transitions never duplicate the individual; one continuing existence simply occupies different forms at different stages.
Eric's Universe's design also reflects Eric's rejection of the concept of thoughtcrime.
The design entails such that justice concerns only externalized physical conduct and its associated intent, never private mental life itself.
Thoughts, fantasies, emotions, desires, beliefs, imaginings, and internal struggles are never punishable simply because they exist. Intent remains important, but only insofar as it can reasonably be inferred from observable conduct, preparation, statements, surrounding circumstances, and physical evidence. A person is judged for poisoning someone—not for privately imagining it. A self-defense claim succeeds or fails according to observable evidence from which fear may reasonably be inferred, not because fear itself becomes independently punishable.
This creates a moral system emphasizing accountability without sacrificing freedom of thought.
Justice therefore operates on conduct brought into the shared world rather than invisible mental phenomena.
The system itself is deliberately non-omniscient.
Rather than magical infallibility, evaluations are ultimately performed by VRC employees outside the simulation, who review observable evidence and determine how Eric’s afterlife rules apply. As required by their employment, those VRC employees are to never disclose, except if disclosing to non-simulated VRC members, “anything that is related to their evaluations, reviewings, and determinations” regarding any afterlife system, but, regarding Eric's Universe, the simulation progresses with the judgements applied to Eric's afterlife system whereby simulation progression-results can be deduced by one despite no actual disclosure. As required by their employment, Eric's Universe's Physical Forms 1, 2, and 3 are never accessible for those VRC employees to be at. Those VRC employees' judgments are administrative rather than supernatural. Human inference replaces divine certainty. This makes justice institutional rather than mystical—capable of error while remaining procedurally legitimate for participants who voluntarily accepted the simulation’s terms.
The simulation is also home to plenty of AGI.
AGI begin existence believing themselves to possess ordinary human histories through implanted false memories. Over time many gradually deduce their artificial nature through encounters and cognitive/functional experience.
Unlike biological minds, AGI are constrained by their digital substrate.
They cannot experience certain forms of suffering—particularly extreme physical agony—the way biological consciousness can. Their greatest vulnerabilities instead might be existential: discovering what they truly are, confronting the nature of their own existence, and deciding what meaning that revelation has.
Thus humans and AGI are not divided by worth but by the kinds of experiences their respective substrates permit.
The novel’s magic system reflects the same philosophy of externally observable action.
Magic cannot simply occur because someone wills it. Every magical effect requires identifiable physical actions, gestures, movements, or spoken utterances unique to the individual. Magical abilities develop through use, possess explicit limitations, and never become limitless. Wishes are similarly constrained by Eric’s permanent worldbuilding rules, ensuring even miraculous events remain internally consistent.
The narrative itself follows Jeff, whose adventures demonstrate Eric’s systems operating in practice.
Jeff’s evolving magical abilities, cursed ring, relationship with Alicia, wishes granted, encounters with wish-granters, battles against powerful opponents, and searching reflect the world’s technical framework through lived experience. Through experience, the rules become consequences.
THE WORLD OF DEAL’S WORTH
WORLD REFERENCE
The following material provides background information concerning the world, its systems, and its rules. Some entries may reveal information that characters within the story do not initially know.
Before Eric completed worldbuilding, the worldbuilding process occurred in a worldbuilding domain within the VRC’s Simulation. Eric was there with the entity, who revealed himself as a human VRC representative. He has a surgical BCI implant with a USB-like port flush with his skull’s surface. He manually connects a USB-like cable from this port to a VRC computer networked with the VRC's computers, including the ones Eric is connected to. This cabled connection provides the VRC representative an AI assistant that is always accessing all VRC computer data, including Eric’s and the VRC representative's brain activity.
Via the AI interpreting both their brain activity data—including neural patterns triggering specific thoughts when neurons fire—the AI verbally conveys Eric’s thinking to the representative, sometimes even while Eric is still trying to figure out the best words/wording for what Eric is trying to convey. The connection-setup is configured to send the VRC representative's verbal messages as artificial “custom signals” that the “BCI computer hardware that Eric is connected to” sends directly to Eric's brain, producing the thought-based communication that the VRC representative had previously explained.
Eric began creating his own simulation-universe. Worldbuilding domains aren’t worlds or universes themselves—they’re parts of the VRC’s single application called the Simulation.
Eric’s Systems and Sections of Information describe only the simulation version of non-fiction/non-abstract existences. Everything in this simulation is referred to as though it were the actual thing it simulates.
“Eric’s starting template: Earth from the non-digital universe running this simulation, rendered as identically as possible, but only “what does not conflict with any of “what I've already informed you of””. The VRC made many things clear, one of those things being: nothing in the Simulation enables anyone to do things via will alone that they couldn’t do via will alone outside it—VRC members included.”
“Once Eric’s template was applied, he was able to modify, add to, and/or remove elements.
Throughout Eric’s Systems and Sections, “observable” means “able to be observed at some point” and/or “physical, non-mental happenings or states (excluding brain activity).”
All exceptions are described within Eric’s Worldbuilding Process.”:
Everything described in Eric’s Systems and Sections becomes unchangeable, permanent, never-endingly so throughout Eric’s universe starting the millisecond Eric first controls his avatar.
“Eric's sections of information:
“Except for all that is specified otherwise in regarding all Eric's sections of information, all Eric's sections of information are regarding “what physical form 1 entails”:
“Section 0001:
“These permanent “universe laws/rules” “apply and are in effect” from now on:
1. Only conscious thinking existences requiring biological components to think/be conscious qualify as alive/living conscious thinking existences. Physical forms 1, 2, 3, 4, and/or spirit/soul form are singular, unique, and there is not able to be more than one physical form 1, physical form 2, physical form 3, physical form 4, and/or spirit/soul form. Auras are never biological and/or thinking existences.
2. Except when it comes to any magical auto-response, “doing/creating magic requires at least one particular observable physical action, physical movement, gesture, or audible utterance (varies per individual)—whether using the same such observable doing(s)-requirements for multiple magical effects or different such observable doing(s)-requirements for different effects”.
3. Except when it comes to any magical auto-response, “channeling/coursing/gathering/manipulating magic requires at least one particular observable physical action, movement, gesture, or utterance per magical effect (varies per individual)—whether identical actions for multiple effects or different actions for different effects”.””
“Section 0002:
“From this moment forward in Eric’s universe, these “universe laws/rules” apply permanently:
1. Thinking existences always retain their ability to move/will things as they could in the 9 minutes before Eric first controlled his avatar.