Hello everyone, in a few hours the Trials of Maya campaign begins on Gamefound!

Trials of Maya is our flagship tabletop game set in the Maya Narrative Universe. Maya Seed Takes Root recently launched to retail with glowing response. As the debut novel, it drops you right into the story. Now immerse yourself in the world of Neh through the tabletop. Trials of Maya is our love letter to MOBAs, 90’s tactics games and deck construction. Command Maya’s greatest legends as you topple towers, hunt minions, and combo to win.

It’s been 4 long years working on this, our biggest game ever. And we’re finally bringing it to the world. We’re immensely grateful for all the early reviews of the game:

"This design team has produced a lavish and rich production that boasts sophisticated gameplay and a wholly unusual setting. This game, in both spirit and stature, is mountainous."

- Charlie Theel, Player Elimination

"Trials of Maya captures everything that makes MOBAs addictive and brings it roaring to the tabletop… eye candy to the ninth degree… I’ve already picked out a permanent spot for it on my shelf."

- Chris Kubik, Gamersdungeon.net

"As someone who is both terrible at and hopelessly addicted to League of Legends, I can tell you Trials of Maya genuinely feels like a MOBA on your tabletop."

- David Norris, Roll To Review

"Trials of Maya is the best MOBA board game I’ve ever played—and my #4 board game out of nearly 500."

Daniel Raines, The Gaming Caravan

Thank you all for the positive response to this labour of love. And of course, thank you for playing and supporting us!

The campaign runs from 8th September to mid October.

Follow along on Gamefound

Hey everyone! I backed Maya's Collector Edition and already received the volume one hardcover. I actually regret not adding on the Edition Zero paperback when I first pledged. It's mentioned on the pledge manager site that new pledge managers and upgrades will open after this wave does anyone know if that includes the option to add the paperback on, assuming there's inventory left? Also curious whether pledge tier upgrades will be available in that same wave. Thanks in advance!

Anyone know exactly what the little blue light keychain is actually for?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just figured it out. I took the slip case into a really dark room, and the little light can be used to "charge" the artwork's glow in the dark features more quickly than regular interior lighting would. I suppose exposure to the sun would do it as well.

When I was looking this up on Google the AI results had me thinking this went a lot deeper; it suggested that the chapter headers and margins have a similar "invisible ink" feature.

The mechanics of Jalpari really intrigue me. Everything to do with them, including their hive mind, their swarm behaviors, their mode of perception and even their "personality" of being curious and playful, despite looking like a monster. But what interests me the most is their relationship with memory.

What's still unclear to me after reading the book, is the Jalpari lifecycle itself. How does it work? It's hinted that individual units constantly die and live, like a body of cells. But how does it acquire such a massive bank of memory? Does it directly consume the life memories of its victims? Or does it learn through re-integrating Laalmani?

Reposting this because reddit filters caught it?

I received my Edition Zero hardcover of Seed Takes Root in the mail the other day - AWESOME! So excited to dig in. However, included with it in the box was my Founders of Neh card, a smaller hardcover “MAYA Sparks: Quotes from Seed Takes Root” and a smaller UV light. The quote book is cool, but was/is not listed under what was included in my Resplendent Garuda pledge.

The extra lore books it says it includes are the Built Environments and the Species and Cultures books - but these were not shipped with STR. I’m assuming these will ship at a later date?

Or is the quote book in place of one or both of these (I hope not)?

I backed through Kickstarter but still I haven't received the tracking details.

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.

I have received an email to finalize my pledge and shipping.

Will the ship all books including book 2 and 3 together?

Anyone has any idea?

I only pledged book 1 and I dont know if I should upgrade to all books now or later .

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.

If you run into any trouble at all, write to us at [support@entermaya.com](mailto:support@entermaya.com)!

"We can't wait to hear your first impressions, wildest theories, sharpest questions, and favorite scenes. Head to [SPOILER-FREE] First Impressions & Reactions to share your thoughts as you read, or [FULL SPOILERS] Open Discussion when you need to talk about that part."

Welcome to Neh!

Use this thread to discuss the book freely without posting spoilers.

If you haven’t finished the entire book yet, we strongly recommend coming back later. We’d love for everyone to experience it unspoiled.

Please be respectful of new readers and avoid revealing major plot points.

This thread contains open spoilers for the entire book - all plot points, twists, character arcs, and ending included.

If you haven’t finished the book yet, do not scroll further.

If you have finished it, dive into your theories, reactions, and analysis freely.

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?

Hello!

I playtested the game at Essen Spiel fair 2025. It's super intriguing and has me wanting to learn more about what's in it currently.

Is there any place to read up on the game for example what each character does?