The Nine-Part Chronological Epic: From Te Pō to Te Ao Mārama
“Before the empire, before the sail—the land kept its own counsel in the dark.”
Part I
Whare Wānanga
IN THE BEGINNING WAS IO THE PARENTLESS
THEN TE KORE-THE FORMLESS VOID
IN TE KORE WAS A WELL OF HEALING WATERS
PUNA HĒ RAU
SOON, THE SPRING WATERS RUSHED FORTH
DIVIDING THE DARKNESS
AND A REFLECTION SHIMMERED
DAWN CAME-TE WHAI AO
AND BEHIND IT, TWILIGHT-TE AO MARAMA
TI HEI MAURI ORA!
Part I — Front Cover Artwork
Layers of obsidian gloss featuring primal geometric carvings emerging from absolute dark.
Back Cover Blurb
At the dawn of existence, the sacred house of learning holds the blueprint of all things before the first human breath awakens the soil.
Futuristic Pacific Gothic Aesthetic
Prismatic light filtering through primordial mist, ambient bioluminescent fern traces, and floating genealogical glyphs.
Part II
Blood Moon
In the ancient days, Māui hauled land out of the ocean with a fishhook, and it was named Te Ika-a-Maui. Thereafter, he and his brothers returned to Hawaiki. Ten generations after this event, their human descendants returned to find the land flourishing with tangled jungles. And in those jungles, other tribes lived-tribes possessing Magic.
Part II — Front Cover Artwork
An oversized crimson moon casting razor-sharp shadows across ancient stone terraces.
Back Cover Blurb
When descendants return to the ancient tangled jungles, they discover they are not alone. Other hands shaped this land first.
Futuristic Pacific Gothic Aesthetic
3D misty forest canopy drenched in copper light, with giant skeletal remains half-submerged in fern rot.
Part III
Old Bones
Set in the time of the great migrations. At a time Magic became a sought after commodity; some would do anything for it.
Part III — Front Cover Artwork
Fossilized adzes bound in woven flax against a backdrop of deep limestone grey.
Back Cover Blurb
In an era where ancestral power is currency, uncovering buried secrets carries a terrifying toll.
Futuristic Pacific Gothic Aesthetic
Subterranean limestone chambers with glowing phosphorescent moss and floating spirit faces.
Part IV
Lucky Star
A time of incorporeal realities. A time of Taniwha, Patupaiarehe, Turehu, Wairua.
Part IV — Front Cover Artwork
A solitary navigational star piercing a starless, ink-black oceanic expanse.
Back Cover Blurb
When the physical world blurs into spirit realms, trusting the old stars is the only survival.
Futuristic Pacific Gothic Aesthetic
Floating spirit faces and incorporeal wisps drifting through canopy layers under a diamond-encrusted sky.
Part V
Troubled Waters
There are times of peace, and times of disturbance.
Part V — Front Cover Artwork
A dark river surface broken by ripples of shifting, liquid silver.
Back Cover Blurb
Where inland currents meet the sea, unquiet depths conceal ancient guardians and submerged vengeance.