This storytelling universe imagines a better world by asking questions pertinent to humans and the planet

Itrsquos safe to assume that we all agree the world has gone to shit War hunger climate disasters or the threat of AI manipulation take your pick When reality is so far gone where would we even begin to look for a fix mdash in philosophy Mythology Or fantasy perhaps scifi For National Awardwinning filmmaker Anand Gandhi Ship of Theseus Tumbbad and celebrated game designer Zain Memon Shasn Azadi it will take all three to imagine a better worldldquoHow is it that we have the ability to grow food in space but havenrsquot been able to feed the one billion human beings on EarthrdquoldquoIn this world driven by algorithms and AI how do we tell truth and lies apartrdquoldquoHow do we create a society thatrsquos more peaceful more equitablerdquoThese arenrsquot just the big questions of life on Earth but the central themes in a brand new narrative universe that Gandhi and Memon have created in an ambitious new storytelling project that will span multiple media mdash books films board games toys video games graphic novels and animated series ldquoThe questions are so vast that it could almost sound naive to be framing them like that But storytellers have to be children and ask questions that scholars fail to answer and then attempt answering them themselvesrdquo says GandhiCharacter DangsaThe ambitious multimilliondollar magnum opus will take 15 years more to bring to fruition in totality ldquoFour years ago we began answering the question mdash what can we do to create the most positive impact through storyrdquo he recalls But theyrsquore not the only one betting big on it ldquoWersquod like to express our gratitude to our investing partner Raju Chakori who has taken a bet on what is the craziest civilisational narrative project undertaken in probably decadesrdquo adds GandhiThe first instalment in the universe is a novel Maya Seed Takes Root set to launch for preorder on Kickstarter on August 19 This book is the first in a trilogy there are to be a total of seven different series of books each following an independent arc In this first release we get our first glimpse of ldquoMayardquo a biological network of sentient trees on the planet Neh The network of trees serves as the living Internet that stores the dreams of each citizen The ruling class harvest this data to see billions of possible futures and ldquonudgerdquo their pathsCharacter ManushyaFantastical as the world sounds the premise doesnrsquot sound too far off from our own world ldquoWersquore witnessing the greatest experiment in narrative control in human history Maya is a response to that This universe is a toolkit for immunity against digital manipulation it asks the questions wersquore too distracted to ask exploring how minds are shaped choices are nudged and futures are manufactured invisiblyrdquo Gandhi tells us on a video call from Goa where he and Memon are adding feverish lastminute touches before the grand launch in Mumbai next weekldquoEven before modern science established that plants have life and sentience ancient wisdom has held this to be true for thousands of years Now we know that trees run entire economies underground through microfungal networks where they communicate and share resources like a stock marketrdquo says the auteur ldquoSo for us there was no better metaphor than sentient trees having the capacity for profound calculations and data collection and processing Itrsquos also a way for us to bridge the two worlds of modern science and ancient philosophyrdquoZain Memon and Anand GandhiMemon adds ldquoWe also wanted to build a science fiction world different from the ones we grew up on which were very focused on physics and space travel If there were a planet just like ours but it had evolved slightly differently what technologies would it have What flora and fauna what species would it haverdquoThe process of worldbuilding was so detailed that it took the duo four years to get to this point where the first book is now complete and the first liveaction film based on it is already in the works ldquoWersquove worked with evolutionary biologists and geologists to imagine how this world might look and behave Wersquove worked with artistes who have worked on some of the biggest works of entertainment such as Avatar Lord of the Rings Planet of the Apes The Maya universe has been built in collaboration with some of the best artists scientists and creators from around the worldrdquo says MemonFans of the fantasy genre might note certain similarities with James Cameronrsquos Avatar ldquoThere is little in common between the Maya trees and the Tree of Souls in Avatar other than the fact that both are treesrdquo says Gandhi ldquoThey both play very different roles in both worlds The Maya trees have a planetwide underground root network that connects all Maya trees to each other which allows them to induce vivid hallucinations in anyone who tethers to them Central to most facets of life of Neh the Maya trees play a complex narrative role one which will reveal itself slowlyrdquoWith such intensive lore involved the studio Department of Lore will also release another book to explain the Maya canon ldquoItrsquoll be 400 pages of just worldbuildingrdquo says Memon ldquoWe will provide this to creators around the world and invite them to make their own stories games and films within the universerdquoThe creative duo envisions the Maya universe as a sandbox of ideas that theyrsquore inviting other creators to play in as well ldquoOne really cool idea that we feel very proud of is that this is going to be a new kind of IP system in itselfrdquo says Gandhi pointing out that while western lore is IPprotected in India we have a long tradition of lsquoopensourcersquo storytelling He invokes Kabir poetry as an example ldquoNot all poetry attributed to Kabir was originally written to him But as my grandmother says Kabir is a vichar dhara not a vyakti Kabir is a philosophy not a personrdquoldquoWith Mayardquo Memon adds ldquoDepartment of Lore owns the IP But we are working on small experiments with how we can as a studio invite other creators to play within the sandbox We are also working on licensing all the assets that we have created Imagine if you had the ability to go on the Star Wars or Game of Thrones website today and use the virtual sets costumes and props mdash worth millions and millions of dollars What stories would you tellrdquoWhatrsquos nextFollowing the launch of the novel Maya Seed Takes Root the studio will next launch two tabletop board games followed by a graphic novel then the sequel to the first book ldquoThis is just the coming year we will have a release lined up every three monthsrdquo says Zain Memon