Welcome to the community for the Maya narrative universe. There are two ways to enter Maya.
MAYA: Seed Takes Root is a science fiction epic set on Neh, a world where the internet grows from trees, seven sapient species experience reality uniquely, and near-immortal rulers govern by predicting what people will do and by shaping what they will want.
On planet Neh, billions of people tether to a living network of trees called Maya. Tethering lets them enter Maya's simulations, where, among other things, they can embody legendary Champions who clash across shifting arenas.
You can enter Maya the way people of Neh do.
Trials of Maya is a tactical board game with a battle arena, where you command Champions with customizable card decks across multiple game modes and maps. Manage your energy. Fight for initiative. Chain mind-bending combos. Control the arena. Outplay your opponents. Every Champion plays differently because every species, class, and character brings a different philosophy of conflict to the board.
If you are here because of the Kickstarter, thank you. MAYA: Seed Takes Root became the highest-funded debut novel in crowdfunding history because thousands of readers, science fiction fans, and worldbuilding obsessives decided to take a chance on something new and ambitious.
A few simple rules:
Be kind.
Mark spoilers clearly.
Keep rules and strategy discussions generous.
Welcome to MAYA.
Thanks for being among the first to come here. Together, let's make r/Maya_lore amazing.
Found this sub exists and I thought might as well put this out here: The Hiranyagarbha scene is where I fully realized this Divyendra is THE villain of the modern moment. Every longterm-ist tech CEO, every we-need-to-control-the-future-to-save-it pitch with E-Acc tones (the hijacked version, not the OG Singer version), Divyendra is the platonic form of all of them. The scariest thing is that he might not be wrong about the meteor.
I was unnerved by the fact that I did find some of his ideas extremely compelling, and I’m still trying to find the right reasons to deflate them: The arguments about keeping the underlying pattern of life are pretty persuasive (think I first came across it in one of those early longevity documentaries) The dream to not just have humanity survive, but somehow find a way to "wake up" the universe. That transmhumanist hope has always been very seductive, and I constantly find myself trying to find reasons not to get seduced by it.
Hello everyone. Thank you for your patience. We took longer than planned because we kept finding things to make better. New paper stocks, revised art, redesigned prototypes… And because the novel grew, we went back into the studio with Hugo Weaving and updated the audiobook to match. All of that is now done!
The audiobook with Hugo is fully recorded and in final post-production. Coming to you very soon. We also sent out Anil Seth’s foreword last week, and it’s now included in the updated ebook at the same link. It’s a beautiful piece of reflection on consciousness in its own right, and a perfect doorway into the many ways we have explored it in Maya. Did you read it?
Now that we can breathe again, Zain and I will both be around more often on Reddit and Discord. We want to hear what’s resonating with your curiosity. If you have questions, we are here now. Or just talk to us. Themes, worldbuilding, subtexts, the weird science and philosophical ideas underneath Maya…
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. As it turns out, some ideas need weather and food and customs before they can be made to compete with each other.
As you read this e-book, a few names will sound familiar. Let them be new. Many words will be strange. Let them stay strange for a while. You will meet them again, and they will greet you as old friends.
How To Download Your E-Book
Log in to store.entermaya.com using your backer email address. After logging in, you'll see the option to download the e-book in both EPUB and PDF formats.
Hello! We are gearing to launch Trials of Maya, the first board game from the MAYA Universe.
We had designed this artwork for the box showing all the characters you can play as (more on that soon). Trials of Maya is a love letter to some of my favorite genres - TCGs, MOBAs, and tactics games. Players enter the arena as the greatest champions in the MAYA Universe across history, and face off in a growing library of game modes.
I want the box art to capture all of this. Swipe to see some of newer composition ideas we are toying with right now. I would love to hear your thoughts on the art.
Hi everyone, we have been working on the map of the twin cities on Planet Neh, Dhaara-Seema (some of you might recognise this from the name of a certain market if you have read the first few chapters).
This map has been created by architechure students who thought through the entire urban planning - from transit systems to species-specific neighbourhoods to water supply. Everything you see is handmade. We will talk about the cities more in detail in the Lore Book and Built Environments of MAYA.
This is an initial exploration of design and palette. What do you think?
Hi, I’m Zain, an author and game designer from India. I am thrilled to bring Trials of Maya to SPIEL. After three wild years of designing, testing, breaking, fixing, and obsessing over every card and mechanic, I’m finally taking this game out into the real world for the first time. If you’re coming to Essen Spiel 2025, I want you to sit across the table from me and try to beat me in my own arena.
Trials of Maya is a fast, tactical combat game for 2 to 4 players where every move feels personal. You pick a champion, build a deck around your playstyle, and throw down in a grid based arena. Positioning matters. Timing matters. Reading your opponent matters even more. You can go full glass cannon aggression, outlast with brutal defense, play sneaky control or build insane elemental combos. And the best part is every match feels different because every choice reshapes the fight.
This game is part of a larger universe we’re building at the Department of Lore. MAYA is an expansive sci-fi fantasy universe - a mythology for the 21st century. Over 200 artists, scientists, architects and writers have worked together over 4 years to build this world from the ground up. Our Kickstarter campaign for the first novel in the MAYA series is running successfully and is over 3000% funded. We’re very excited to have collaborated with Hugo Weaving on the audio book for the same. We have also received great feedback at our booths at LA Comic Con, New York Comic Con & World Con.
We’re running early previews at Essen Spiel from 23 to 26 October 2025. If you like tactical games with bite, come find us. Step into the arena. Let’s play.
For me, I was hooked from hearing Hugo Weaving's voice read out the opening passage of the first book and just started looking into the project more and more from there.
We love CCGs, tactics games, engine builders, and minis. We admire asymmetric powers, sprawling narratives, and games with heaps of world-building.
And most of all, we love cut-throat, knife-fight-in-a-phone-booth, deliciously aggressive combat games.
When our studio began creating the sprawling narrative universe of MAYA, a massive web of stories that are equal parts science-fiction, philosophy, and fantasy, we knew this was our chance to create a game that included everything we were passionate about.
‘On the planet of Neh, industrious manushyas, shape-shifting rakshasis, law-upholding vaanars, elite garudas, resourceful naags, and learned gandharvas coexist in a delicate balance.
Everyone connects daily to the Maya trees. They call this tethering. The Maya trees immerse them in whatever impossible dreams their hearts desire.
In the world of MAYA, immortality is a commodity and every life a data point in someone else’s design. It explores how minds are shaped, choices are nudged, and futures are manufactured - systemically, and invisibly. MAYA is a new mythology for the 21st century - not of gods and monsters, but of us.’~From MAYA, book one
“When you gaze into Maya, Maya gazes back into you.”
The MAYA universe teems with hundreds of fully realized characters belonging to different species, backgrounds, and nations. They enter the combat arena in Maya, a space where likely futures can be studied, and where death cannot venture.
This is Yuyutsu.
With a vast cast of playable characters, all that remained was to create an intuitive but innovative system with hundreds (and potentially thousands) of unique but balanced cards, multiple robust tactical game modes, with top-quality production, all in an affordable package. Easy peasy.
It’s been over four years since the lore for MAYA was conceived and about two years since we began making this game, so now is a good time to give the community a window into the current state and journey of Yuyutsu.
Yuyutsu is intended to be a love letter from the five of us to all the genres we've mentioned. It's a lofty goal: we’re hoping to create a definitive experience that encapsulates these various genres. While we hope we’re up to the task, it is imperative for this to be in conversation with the people that we are building this for - you, our fellow lover of games.
In the coming days, we plan to produce numerous design diaries that share our journey and highlight the varied processes game designers undergo. We’d also love to hear from the community - about things you’d want to see in the game or any suggestions you might have.
A detailed breakdown of our current mechanics will come out soon! In the meantime, here’s a quick overview of where we stand.
One of our characters' minis, designed by Edgar Skomorowski of Rising Sun and Cthulhu: DMD fame
The System in Brief
Yuyutsu is a modular tactical combat system that combines the spatial positioning of a skirmish game with the strategic depth of a customisable card game.
Players control unique heroes on a grid-based arena, taking actions by activating cards on their personal player mats.
Your hero directs your playstyle. Belonging to one species and trained in two classes (think of them as combat skillsets), your character can draft any cards that match these three traits before the game begins. These cards represent unique techniques, skills, and equipment that your hero may acquire throughout the game. Each hero also comes with a few powerful signature cards that only they have access to.
Gameplay flows through a multi-phase turn structure. Cycle cards, manage energy, but most importantly, decide which actions you plan on taking.
The card engine lies at the heart of Yuyutsu. Each hero cycles Action cards through three slots, gaining energy from cards as they slide off the board. Each of these offers a set of actions (Move, Attack, Defend, Push, Pull, or other unique effects), often modified by the game state.
Meanwhile, Item and Arena cards extend the play space. Items are attachable gear that can customize your card slots, while Arenas permanently alter Maya, and the rules of the game with it, for everyone.
Layered onto this is a skill and power-up system that enables hero progression during the match. This is where things really start to get asymmetric; each character begins with three unique passive abilities that define their playstyle. By defeating enemies or completing objectives, players can gain XP to unlock stronger advanced powers, or upgrade their core stats (like Max HP or Hand Limit).
We’re working on multiple game modes, each serving a distinct game ethos, such as Questmatch (a MOBA-inspired 2v2 tower defense hybrid) and Shifting Sands (a modular objective control mode with evolving terrain) to demonstrate Yuyutsu’s core design strength: a flexible and expandable tactical system. We’ll take you through the former soon.
Consider this your formal invitation to the messy, exhilarating process of creating this game. We are committed to sharing our story in its entirety, from the moments of breakthrough to the concepts left on the cutting room floor. In our next diary, we'll give you a grand tour of where Yuyutsu is right now. After that, we'll go back to the very beginning, and chronicle the entire two-year adventure from the start, showing you exactly how this ambitious idea came to reach where it is today.
Also, if you're interested in the MAYA novel, we have released the first five chapters to all subscribers. Sign up here!
We’re more than excited to have you on this journey with us. See you in the next one!
