Terms of service

Effective date: September 8, 2026

Introduction & binding consent

Welcome to Aetia. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legally binding agreement between you and the operator of Aetia ("Aetia," "we," "us," or "our"). Aetia is an independent writing studio operated from New Zealand as a sole trader, trading as Aetia. It is not a registered company. These Terms govern your access to and use of the Aetia web-based novel design software, manuscript studio, and related planning services (the "Platform"). By creating an account or using any part of the Platform, you agree to these Terms, which are governed by the laws of New Zealand.

In plain English

You are contracting with a New Zealand sole trader who operates the Aetia studio. There is no registered company behind this product today.

1. Intellectual property & user content

You retain complete, exclusive ownership, copyright, and title to all original ideas, lore outlines, characters, manuscript text, and world-building notes that you input, import, store, or generate within the Platform ("User Content"). Aetia claims no intellectual property rights over your work.

You grant us a strictly limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, process, reproduce, and transmit your User Content solely as necessary to deliver, display, and maintain the cloud workspace for your private account. We warrant that your private User Content will never be sold, distributed, or processed to train public, foundational generative models without your explicit, separate opt-in consent.

In plain English

You own 100% of your book, characters, and lore. We simply host your files so you can write. We will never sell your stories or use your private data to train public generative AI algorithms.

2. Data infrastructure & global hosting

Your User Content and metadata are processed and stored using Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. By using the Platform, you acknowledge that your data may be hosted and processed outside New Zealand. We use industry-standard encryption in transit and access controls designed to keep private manuscripts away from unauthorized access.

3. Managed collaborative drafts & the scratchpad

The Platform provides automated narrative suggestions, timeline auditing, and layout drafting tools (the "System Suggestions"). System Suggestions are a collaborative playground for your convenience.

All System Suggestions are held in a separate, isolated staging area (your "Scratchpad") and do not become part of your permanent story structure or manuscript unless you explicitly review, edit, and approve them. We make no legal guarantees regarding the originality or copyrightability of automated System Suggestions. You remain solely responsible for reviewing and authorizing all prose before publishing or commercially exporting it from the Platform.

In plain English

Our writing features act like a smart whiteboard. Any text or layouts they generate stay in a sandbox. Nothing is part of your book until you personally approve it.

4. Acceptable use & user-generated content (UGC)

The Platform allows you to create, share, or collaborate on storytelling materials. By using the Platform, you warrant that you will not upload or distribute any User Content that:

  • infringes upon the intellectual property, copyrights, or privacy rights of any third party;
  • contains malicious code, viruses, or scrapers designed to disrupt the service; or
  • violates applicable local, national, or international laws.

We reserve the right, but hold no obligation, to monitor, review, or remove User Content from shared public portals if it breaches these guidelines, or to suspend accounts found to be abusing the service.

5. Subscription fees, billing, & cancellations

Hobbyist access is free and does not require a card. Craft, Storyteller, and Professional are paid subscriptions processed by Stripe. List prices on the pricing page are in US dollars before tax. Any applicable GST, VAT, or sales tax is calculated at checkout from your billing address and added to the total.

By subscribing, you authorize recurring monthly or annual charges until you cancel. You may cancel or update your payment method at any time through the Stripe Customer Portal from studio settings. After cancellation, paid access continues until the end of the current billing period, then the account returns to Hobbyist. The Hobbyist welcome pack of hosted layouts and continuity checks does not refill.

On Craft, hosted layouts and continuity use the OpenAI API key you connect in Settings. OpenAI bills those calls to you. Storyteller and Professional include a hosted allotment billed through Aetia; Professional may continue on your key after that allotment is used.

In plain English

Free Hobbyist stays free. Paid plans run through Stripe. Tax is added at checkout. Cancel in the customer portal. Welcome layouts do not come back each month.

5a. Account security & connected OpenAI keys

You are responsible for keeping your Aetia credentials confidential, for the devices you use, and for telling us promptly if you suspect your account has been compromised. Multi-factor authentication is available when we offer it; we recommend you turn it on.

Connecting an OpenAI API key is optional and available on Craft and after a Professional hosted cap. We store that key encrypted at rest and use it only to run hosted layouts and continuity jobs you start. We never show the key again after you save it. OpenAI’s terms and invoices apply to those calls. We are not OpenAI and we do not indemnify OpenAI usage.

If someone uses your Aetia session because of a credential failure on your side (phishing, password reuse, a shared or unlocked device, or a stolen session you caused), you remain responsible for OpenAI charges on your key and for misuse of your workspace. Aetia does not refund OpenAI. If we fail in our own systems (for example a breach of our encryption controls, a misconfigured key policy, or remote code execution on our services), nothing in these Terms purports to waive liability for our negligence or your rights under the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 where that Act applies. The twelve-month fee cap in section 7 still applies where the law allows it.

In plain English

Protect your Aetia login. Your OpenAI key is stored encrypted and never shown again. You pay OpenAI for jobs that use it. If your password is stolen, those OpenAI bills stay yours. If we leak the vault through our own mistake, consumer-law rights still apply.

6. Disclaimer of warranties

THE PLATFORM, INCLUDING CONTINUITY CHECKS AND SYSTEM SUGGESTIONS, IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, EXCEPT WHERE NEW ZEALAND LAW DOES NOT ALLOW THOSE EXCLUSIONS. WHERE PERMITTED, WE DISCLAIM WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, PLOT LOGIC ACCURACY, AND SYSTEM SUGGESTION COMPLETENESS. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR ABLE TO CATCH EVERY NARRATIVE FLAW.

7. Strict limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL AETIA OR THE PERSON OPERATING AETIA BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA LOSS, MANUSCRIPT DATA CORRUPTION, OR LOSS OF EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE WORKSPACE.

NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES OR LIMITS RIGHTS YOU HAVE AS A CONSUMER UNDER THE NEW ZEALAND CONSUMER GUARANTEES ACT 1993 WHERE THAT ACT APPLIES. WHERE LIABILITY CAN LAWFULLY BE LIMITED, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF THE SERVICES IS CAPPED AT THE TOTAL FEES YOU ACTUALLY PAID TO AETIA DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

8. Termination of service

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account access immediately, without prior notice or liability, if you materially breach these Terms. Upon termination, your right to use the Platform ceases. Clauses regarding IP ownership, liability, and governing law survive termination. You are responsible for exporting your lore and manuscript notes before you delete your account.

9. Governing law & jurisdiction

Governing law: These Terms, your account, and disputes connected to your workspace data are governed by the laws of New Zealand.

Jurisdiction: The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts to resolve proceedings arising under these Terms.