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maya'māyānoun
[from Sanskrit māyā (माया)]
- 1.
Cosmic illusion, delusion, simulation, the indescribable.
- 2.on Planet Neh
A tree network capable of producing vivid life-like dreams; complex emergent systems that are greater than the sum of their parts.
Maya Chronicles is an expansive narrative universe created by Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon.
It unfolds across films, games, graphic novels, books, toys, and immersive experiences.
Every word and every pixel of Maya has been put together with care by humans, for humans.
Praise for Maya: Seed Takes Root
- 01★★★★★
“Reading Maya was like experiencing the great stories you encounter as a teenager—the ones that echo down through your life, the ones you come back to again and again, finding new ways to fall in.”
— Raymond McCaulay · Chair of Digital Biology, Singularity University - 02★★★★★
“Uncomfortably close to our current relationship with technology and social media algorithms—and that's entirely the point.”
— Variety - 03★★★★★
“The antagonist lays out his reasoning step by step, and you can't argue with it. It's ironclad. It's terrifying.”
— @JoshReadsBooks
An epic science fantasy with intricate worldbuilding. Seven species, one planet, zero privacy. Enter the age of narrative warfare.
“Intelligence itself is prediction. From the simplest creature retreating from harm to minds charting distant stars, all seek to answer the same question: what comes next? Those who answer correctly survive to pose the question again.”
Tiresia-Sanjay
Tales From Maya
A growing cast of memorable characters whose stories grow across multiple experiences
Dangsa
VaanarDangsa recited her vows of vaanar service for years, until she rose to the rank of Subhedar. She recited them again on the day she was dishonorably discharged for a crime she did not commit. The disgraced are sent to the Aadri mountains, reformed, and made to begin again. Dangsa refused. Now the crimson dye that once shielded her from local law fades from her fur. Before it turns white, she must clear her name. Until then, a Divya-Scion has her mace.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
Kshar
NaagTwenty years ago, Kshar bared his throat in allegiance to the Secret Coil, the covert naag service that offers death before betrayal to the Divyas. Vishar, his homeland, calls him a traitor. To his handlers, he has no equal in infiltration, leverage, and the quiet art of neutralization. To cure his son, he became the only known mortal to endure Divya Maya. Kshar needs neither blade nor army. Hand him a fruit, and he will leave a city in ashes.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
Mauravi
GarudaSixth-born of Great-Divya Aruna, Mauravi was never favored. Until her five elder siblings died under circumstances no one dared name. A day before her Trials, the same shadow came for her. It failed, but took a wing, and with it, her claim to Divyalok. Mauravi never entered the Games. With one wing of flesh and one of metal, she became Aruna's talon on Neh: the emissary, broker, and storm behind the throne.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
- Maya: The Forgotten Egg
Prabhakar
ManushyaWhile the world drowned in imagined dreams, Prabhakar joined the One-Eyed Turloth and swore to topple the gods themselves. He refuses Maya, keeping his mind his own, and recruits where power forgets to look. Trained by the ghost of Sheshan, the first revolutionary, he waits in the shadows, building an army of invisible rebels. He can charm a secret loose, joke past a blade, and crack any cipher or skull.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
- Maya: Whispers in the Soil
Ayn
Pragya-Gendered RakshasiThe manushya heartland believes that rakshasis are flesh-eating monsters. Ayn chooses to venture deep into it anyway. The road to invention is paved with trials and almost-executions, but Ayn's scholarship is her shield. She knows that something is deeply wrong with the world, and her work, should it come to pass, could upset its very foundations.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
Bird-Drink-Pot
KulieKulie have no name. Kulie have no say. Kulie's hands not his. Master say. Kulie do. But Bird-Drink-Pot not like other kulie. Bird-Drink-Pot say. Bird-Drink-Pot do. Bird-Drink-Pot have name. All of Neh know it soon.
- Appears in
- Maya: Seed Takes Root
- Trials of Maya
- Scales: The Quest To Be Forgotten
“You see lives. I see life itself. Each consciousness is a transient song, a brief organization of atoms that learned to know itself. Beautiful, yes. Sacred, even. But the real miracle isn't any single song. It's the universe's capacity to generate song from silence.”
Divyendra, Maya: Seed Takes Root
Welcome to Neh
Home to 7 sapient species that coexist in a delicate balance. They've invented a complex civilization but can't agree on the color of the sky.
Enter Maya
One universe expanding across mediums.
Book
Maya: Seed Takes Root
Through their planetwide network of Maya trees, the Divyas can see all that is, and therefore, predict all that will be. They intervene invisibly, ruling Neh without armies. Why force obedience when you can shape desire itself?
Tabletop Game
Trials of Maya
An arena-based expandable card game. Command champions with customizable decks across various arenas. Manage your energy, chain mind-bending combos, and strike at the right moment to win.
Pedagogy
Speculative Archi-scapes
Much of Maya's architecture emerged from a course created at CEPT University, India's top architecture school. Similar speculative pedagogy modules are underway at top schools around the world.
Feature Film
Maya
The major motion picture adaptation of Maya: Seed Takes Root (Book One of Maya).
Video Game
Trials of Maya - Digital
An adaptation with the crunchy depth of strategy games, the rapid-fire decision making of MOBAs, and the spatial puzzling of tactics games.
TTRPG
Maya Samarpayami
Create characters from a host of diverse species, solve ethical dilemmas, and explore infinite possibilities in a journey through Neh that reimagines what a tabletop role-playing experience can be.
Graphic Novel
Maya: Scales - The Quest To Be Forgotten
When the city of Mythra is rocked by a series of high-profile murders, vaanar detective Taara teams up with Ulupi, a naag historian with a criminal past. Ulupi has one condition: he wants to be forgotten by Maya.
Praise for Maya: Seed Takes Root
- 01★★★★★
“There were chapters where I had to put the book down and breathe. The pace, the ideas, the weight of everything happening. But I couldn't stay away.”
— @VestCody - 02★★★★★
“An act of civilizational memory… a mythos that confronts the 21st century's most urgent questions.”
— Esquire - 03★★★★★
“Every aspect of it—the politics, the culture, ecology, and technology—feels like a simulation that's been allowed to run for hundreds of years.”
— @TheBookishAlchemist
From the community
- Matthew Kilpatrick
Mind-blowing, an exercise of completely unleashed and unrestrained creativity. Wish there was more epic fantasy populated with non-human characters.
NetGalley - Dan Lovejoy
MAYA: Seed Takes Root is one of the most inventive and deeply layered books I've encountered in a long time. The world-building here is second to none.
NetGalley - Sabrina Snyder
It is boundary-pushing storytelling at its best! It is a phenomenal, well-written reading experience that will linger long after you finish.
NetGalley - Zane Snider
MAYA: Seed Takes Root is one of the most ambitious science fiction novels I've read in quite some time.
NetGalley - Elias Thorne
Maya is exactly the kind of epic fiction that the world needs, and I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time.
Goodreads - Darius Vance
Maya reads like Chomsky collaborated with Tchaikovsky to create a vivid new world that blurs the lines of fiction and non-fiction. And then Ursula LeGuin came in to render it with all of her sensibilities and wisdom.
Goodreads - Morgan Taylor
This is a book with an insane number of ideas. Every page has a scene, a moment, a creature, a sentence that I know I am going to remember for years to come.
Goodreads
Creators
“We build laboratories to find out what's true, what happens, and what works. We built a world for the same reason. Five years later, it has its own languages, its own injustices, and its own excuses.”Anand Gandhi & Zain Memon
Anand Gandhi
Anand Gandhi is a defining voice in contemporary Indian cinema. His philosophical triptych Ship of Theseus and mythological horror Tumbbad are among the most celebrated films of their generation. His work has won honors at the international film festivals of Toronto, Venice, Transylvania, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
Zain Memon
Zain Memon is an acclaimed game designer. His bestselling board games SHASN and AZADI are played in over 70 countries. His work has won the Games for Change and IndieCade awards.
Together, Anand and Zain have produced films, games, VR experiences, documentaries, and shows. Many of them have been acquired or distributed by Disney, Netflix, Prime Video, BBC, and Channel 4. Their work draws from cognitive biology and game theory to examine how stories shape beliefs and behaviors.
Team
Raju Chekuri
Founding PartnerRaju Chekuri is a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and the founder of multiple successful tech ventures.
Shreya Dudheria
ProducerShreya Dudheria is a filmmaker and media producer with a decade's experience of directing and producing primetime television.
Aayush Asthana
WorldbuilderAayush Asthana is a writer, editor, and game designer. He is the lore guardian of the ever-expanding mythology of Maya.
“Why force obedience, when you can shape desire itself?”
Sheshan
Behind the Scenes
Maya has been built over five years in collaboration with more than 200 writers, game designers, filmmakers, biologists, architects, linguists, and artists across the globe.
Gallery
Click on any image below to view it in full screen
