NIAN — 念念
Because the details blur first.
What Nian is
Nian is a legacy memory capture and voice preservation service — a veteran-founded living legacy platform and encrypted legacy vault for veterans, military families, and families preserving a loved one's voice. We record life stories on video — your voice, your stories, the texture of who you are — inside a zero-knowledge encrypted vault on Proton Drive, with access credentials held in escrow by your designated estate attorney. Not even Nian can access your vault contents. That is enforced at the infrastructure level, not as a policy promise.
Why we built this
Founded by Kam To — a US Navy veteran and Chinese-American father. His grandmother lived to 104. He was at sea when she passed. By the time he got home, she was already buried. A decade later, the details are starting to blur — and that terrifies him more than the grief ever did. Nian is built for his son Lukas. And for everyone who refuses to let the most important person in their life become just a memory.
Who Nian is for
- Veterans — thirty years of service, stories nobody properly asked about, a code of conduct that was never written down.
- Military families — who held everything together while someone was gone; who have a story too.
- Fraternal brothers & sisters — whose wisdom should outlive the individual.
- Legacy builders — healthy, clear, present, and ready to be remembered correctly.
- The closing chapter — those with a diagnosis, a timeline, and a clarity most never find.
How a session works
Every Nian session is facilitated (not self-directed). Kam joins via Zoom to hold the space. Three parts — a facilitated conversation with someone trained to ask the question behind the question, a private solo recording where the subject speaks alone with no one in the room, and directed scenes that capture presence, movement, and the specific texture of who someone is. Three courses. One complete person.
Pricing (Phase 1)
- Foundation Session: $299 — the first capture session.
- Founding Member ($99 reserves your place): Foundation Session locked at $200 forever; the $99 applies toward your session. 42 spots only.
- Return Sessions: $99 each.
- The Closing Chapter: $199 — final seal session.
- Vault Storage: $9/month.
Core questions
Who controls my vault? You do. Entirely. Recordings stored on Proton Drive with zero-knowledge encryption. Access credentials held in escrow by your designated estate attorney — not by Nian. Your vault cannot be held hostage by our operational status. Structural protection, not a policy promise.
Can Nian read my recordings? No. Zero-knowledge architecture means encryption happens on your device before anything leaves it. Proton’s servers never receive your encryption keys. Neither does Nian. We have no technical pathway to your vault contents. Architectural fact, not privacy policy language.
Is Nian only for people who are dying? No. Nian is a living legacy platform, not an end-of-life product. The best time to capture a life is while the person is still in the middle of living it. Waiting is the mistake.
What makes Nian different from a home recording? Anyone can press record. What Nian provides is the three-part facilitated structure, the questions, the trained facilitation, the proprietary camera geometry and audio protocol, and the secure infrastructure that transforms a conversation into a permanent, encrypted legacy.
Read more
Full story: nian.vet/story · How it works: nian.vet/how-it-works
念念不忘 — what is remembered, lives.
© 2026 HK Projects LLC (DBA: Nian) · nian.vet · SDVOSB