Grand bargain 01
Fame
Be known. Be unable to stop being known.
Recognition in every room, including the ones you wanted to leave quietly.
Fine print Fame is granted in full and cannot be partially returned. Privacy is forfeit on signing.
Begin your appraisal The eight grand bargains
Each bargain is fulfilled with absolute contractual enthusiasm and a flexible interpretation of the word "benefit".
Grand bargain 01
Be known. Be unable to stop being known.
Recognition in every room, including the ones you wanted to leave quietly.
Fine print Fame is granted in full and cannot be partially returned. Privacy is forfeit on signing.
Grand bargain 02
Money, and the specific anxieties only money provides.
Wealth sufficient to ruin your relationships at a higher standard of living.
Fine print Fortune is nominal, volatile, and taxed in a currency we will name later.
Grand bargain 03
They'll get what's coming. So will you.
Precise, proportionate, deeply satisfying, and impossible to enjoy in front of others.
Fine print Revenge is final on delivery. Targets cannot be amended once selected in your heart.
Grand bargain 04
Heads turn. So do stomachs, eventually.
A face the algorithm rewards and the mirror keeps a ledger on.
Fine print Beauty depreciates on a schedule we control. Maintenance plans are not available.
Grand bargain 05
People do what you want and resent you correctly for it.
The quiet power to move rooms, decisions, and group chats.
Fine print Influence is non-transferable and audible to everyone except you.
Grand bargain 06
Above some people. Below others. Aware of both at all times.
A rung. A good one. With a perfect view of the rung above.
Fine print Status is relative, contested, and recalculated nightly without your input.
Grand bargain 07
Nothing bad happens to you. Things still happen near you.
A quiet shield against consequence, confrontation, and the phone ringing.
Fine print Protection covers you only. Bystanders are explicitly not covered and somewhat at risk.
Grand bargain 08
Everyone assumes you're senior. You stop correcting them.
Unearned gravitas in meetings, replies, and the way people say your name.
Fine print Respect is inexplicable by design. Requesting an explanation voids it instantly.
Every one of these bargains has a fifteen-century paper trail. Read the history of the Faustian pact in the Book of Pacts.