MAYA, a brand-new multimedia sci-fi fantasy franchise from Division of Lore, is heading our manner, and the inimitable Hugo Weaving helped introduce the launch. The brand new universe, which is now on Kickstarter, is from the minds of filmmaker Anand Gandhi (Ship of Theseus, Tumbbad) and award-winning recreation designer Zain Memon (Shasn).
The deliberate franchise is kicking off with the novel MAYA: Seed Takes Root, which is meant to be the entry level into an enormous, expansive world. The ebook will formally be obtainable on August 19, 2025, and it’ll ship readers straight into the world:
On the earth of Maya, the “haves” and the “have nots”; labor in a world not beneath their management. Linked and managed by a shared dreamscape, one particular person finds himself free from this management. What he chooses to do with this reward (or curse) will change the destiny of the complete world.
In MAYA, immortality is a commodity, and minds are formed, selections nudged, and futures manufactured – invisibly, systemically. Far past conventional science fiction, It’s a sweeping story of chaos and management, company and prediction, the highly effective and the expendable.
Take a look at the MAYA Narrative Universe trailer launch, narrated by sci-fi and fantasy legend Hugo Weaving:
The MAYA Narrative Universe Comes From Two Veteran Storytellers
Each Gandhi and Memon aren’t any strangers to constructing sprawling narrative worlds. Gandhi’s 2012 Indian movie Ship of Theseus was an underrated sleeper that yr and obtained important acclaim. Its story is as a lot a philosophical exploration of what it means to be human and a meditation on dying as it’s a celebration of humanity and wonder, in addition to being a visible stunner.
In the meantime, Memon’s 2019 board recreation Shasn (Gandhi additionally produced) is simply as a lot of a standout in its personal proper. The sport is sort of actually a political one, with gamers adopting the position of a politician attempting to affect an election, being required to make selections and take stands on varied political and social points. In doing so, it turns into greater than a recreation and transforms right into a philosophical and moral train.
MAYA Is Meant To Be Extra Than Simply A Enjoyable Story
Clearly, Gandhi and Memon are males who’ve a message of their creations, creators who wish to do extra than simply inform an entertaining story. With MAYA, they’ve the chance to try this. After all, it will likely be an immersive and interesting little bit of world-building, however the creators need us to consider our world and our place in it.
So dedicated are they to their mission that they teamed up and created their firm, Division of Lore, to do it. Division of Lore’s mission assertion says all of it:
Division of Lore is a next-generation storytelling studio redefining how tales are constructed and skilled. We pioneer the creation of neo-mythologies—interconnected, multi-format, large-scale universes designed to resonate with world audiences. Our flagship property, MAYA, was conceived from the outset for transmedia growth, providing a story framework to span books, movie, video games, and past. We concentrate on narrative know-how, harnessing storytelling as humanity’s most influential but underutilized know-how with the technique of leveraging mythology-scale narratives to assist humanity navigate complicated world challenges, reworking collective human expertise into civilizational knowledge.
Proper now, it feels just like the planet, and maybe human civilization, is on a precipice, or on the very least a crossroads, and MAYA‘s story displays that anxiousness – but additionally the hope so many people nonetheless have, and Gandhi intends for the starter novel and the bigger franchise to discover that:
“Wishfully, I feel we’ll be tremendous. We, people and our planet. But I’ve no proof to justify this perception. My rational honesty calls for sturdy arguments. As Zain and I debated all sides comprehensively, rigorously, Maya emerged. A sandbox of concepts, options, warnings, signposts and compasses, advised within the language of fable.”
Memon agrees that whereas MAYA is in the beginning merely an ideal sci-fi fantasy story, it might additionally serve an even bigger goal than itself. “MAYA, like all speculative fiction, is an invite to rehearse our many futures within the security of simulation, so we could select correctly,” he explains. “To face our hardest questions now, whereas there’s nonetheless time to vary the solutions.”
You possibly can take a look at extra data and the subsequent deliberate tasks within the franchise on the official MAYA site.
