Novan

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Novan
Four Letter Code	NOVN
Federation Status	Member
Planet of Origin	Terra Nova
Encountered	ENT: "Terra Nova"
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N
List of Named Novans
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"We are survivors, reborn, renewed and stronger for it."

a Novan proverb.

The Novans are actually a colony of humans founded at the start of their second wave of colonization of space. Unfortunately this colony suffered a disaster and lost contact with the Earth. When contact was re-established they had regressed to a primitive society suffering from slow radiation poisoning. They were relocated away from the radiation and have since been transformed into a thriving colony and a Federation member world.

Home System

• Quadrant: Alpha
• Location: 004 Sector (coordinates A26-0001-1299)
• Proper Name: Ordkov Bilsov system
• Star: It orbits a class G (Yellow) star
• Distance from Star: its orbit is approximately 36 million km
• Companions: It is the 3rd of 9 planets in the system
• Moons: it has 2 moons.

Home World

• Proper Name: Terra Nova
• Diameter: 21,504 km (13,362 miles)
• Gravity: 0.98 standard gravity with a density of 3.2
• Axial Tilt: 12.9%, with normal seasonal changes
• Orbital Period: 386 days
• Rotational Period: 24.5 hours
• Classification: M
• Surface Water: 58%
• Atmosphere: 1.03% is a standard pressure with 75% nitrogen, 24% oxygen, 1% trace chemicals
• Climate: Mainly a temperate planet with tropical and arctic zones.
• Terrain: It has vast regions of rolling hills and forests with a few mountain ranges, rain forests, deserts and barren scrub land.
• Population: Just over ½ million

History

The term "Novan" is used to describe the group of Human colonists who settled the planet Terra Nova and their descendants. The term was applied to these colonists in much the same way the term Martian was applied to those living on Mars.

The Terra Nova colony was the first Human colony outside the Sol system, founded in 2078 by the SS Conestoga after a nine-year flight from Earth. The Novans were successful in establishing a fully-functioning community. As a result a second ship loaded with colonists was planned to be sent to the Terra Nova colony.

The Novans did not like this idea as they were not interested in sharing the home that they had struggled so hard to build. The colony was led by a man named Mark Logan and under his direction the situation with Earth became severely strained with Logan transmitting threats of violence upon any ships that would arrive in orbit of his planet. This was the last message received from the Novans. Earth lost contact with them, and never launched a ship to investigate because of limited resources. The fate of the Novans remained a mystery.

In 2151, the Earth starship Enterprise visited Terra Nova to discover the whereabouts of the apparently missing colony. They discovered the irradiated remains of the colony, and it was determined that the colony had been destroyed by an asteroid strike, which had scattered radioactive debris over the northern hemisphere.

The Novans that survived the asteroid strike had taken refuge in underground caverns in order to avoid the radiation on the surface. They believed that Earth had attacked them with "poison rain" because they weren't willing to share their home. This belief was passed on to the next generation.

The Novans considered Earth, and Humans, their enemy, and eventually forgot or denied the idea that they were Human as well. When a landing party descended on the planet, Novan warriors attacked the "Human" intruders. Eventually the Enterprise crew was able to gain the trust of the Novans, convincing them that Earth was not responsible for destroying the original colony.

When it was determined that the underground water supply the Novans used to survive had slowly become contaminated by the surface radiation, it became imperative that something be done to save the remaining population. As a result the Novan population was eventually relocated to a continent on the southern hemisphere that was unaffected by the fallout from the asteroid strike.

Following this incident the Earth sent a team of doctors and scientists to the Terra Nova colony in 2152 to study and see to their health and well-being.

In 2154 the Earth sent a large group of volunteers, approximately 250 individuals with a wide range of skills and training. These new colonists set to work to try and re-educate the Novan survivors.

Their efforts paid off and by 2170 not only had the volunteers become a permanent part of the colony but most of the negative effects of the radiation poisoning had been eliminated from the population. On top of this together they had been able to not only rebuild their colony but it was thriving. The population was increasing and the general overall educational level of the surviving Novans had been greatly increased.

As a result of the combined hard work by not only the original colonists and the volunteers who had joined them but of Earth to see that they received regular shipments of medical supplies as well as other goods and materials the colony as a whole decided to request admission to the Federation in 2176.

In 2178 the Novans became Federation citizens, when Terra Nova joined the United Federation of Planets.

Since that time the colony has continued to grow and thrive. Now a number of communities have been established on the southern continent and the possibility of cleaning up the ecological radiation disaster on the northern continent has received enough local support that plans are in the works to commence work on correcting this problem.

Government

Their capitol is in the new transplanted colony on the southern continent which has since grown into their largest community. Here a council of 11 individuals selected from the city as well as a single representative from each of the other communities meet to discuss and implement policy and programs for the betterment of not only the city but all of the Novans as well.

Description

Almost 4/5th of the total population is made up of humans. Of this just under half are the descendants of the original Terra Nova colonists. The rest have moved here over the years and become permanent members of the colony. The other 1/5th is made up of colonists from a wide range of different Federation species who have come here since the colony became a member of the Federation.

Physiology

As with most intelligent humanoid species they have a very complex system with specialized organs, and unique hormones, chemicals and enzymes. They are typical humanoids with most of the physical, mental and biological medical problems that seem to plague most humanoids.

Psychology

The mental state of the original Terra Nova survivors required a lot of counseling and tender loving care in order to correct the damage done by their slow regression into a primitive society and the damage caused by prolonged radiation exposure and poisoning.

Now the mental state of all the human colonists can best be described as approximately normal based on their species, the conditions they live in and the rigors involved in being a member of a frontier style society. The same can be said of the rest of the colonists, again based on their species and the same factors that might affect the human colonists.

Religion

The humans observe a number of the same types of religious beliefs as can be found on Earth. This is not unusual as their ancestors brought their religious beliefs with them when they settled this colony. The same can be said of the other Federation species that have also chosen to settle here.

Mythology

Due to the varied origins of the different colonists there is a wide and varied collection of tales, myths and legends that can be traced back to numerous different cultures on Earth and the various different Federation species that have settled with in the various communities of the Terra Nova colony.

Society

In many ways they could be considered to have a frontier style society with less advanced technology and more basic infrastructure and services available to the majority of the colonists.

That being said they do have a well-designed and provided for hospital, university and emergency services system in the capital. Also the capitol is easily better constructed, laid out and with more advanced power, transportation, sanitation, recycling and communication capabilities.

Culture

As a general rule the Novans appreciate most forms of artistic expression and their capitol boasts a museum, art gallery and music hall as well as various programs designed to teach most forms of artist expression to anyone who is interested in learning.

Customs

With time the survivors of the original Terra Nova colonists have adapted and taken on many of the customs of the newer colonists from Earth. Those colonists that come from different worlds and species have brought their own customs with them.

Technology

They tend to be behind most of the rest of the Federation when it comes to their technological capabilities. In some ways they are still considered to be something of a frontier colony in this respect.

Economy

As a colony and a member of the Federation they are dependent on trade for most of their luxury goods and most of their medical supplies. Fortunately the various raw resources that they are capable of producing are more than abundant to pay for what they need. As a result while they may live rustic, almost frontier style lives they have what they consider to be a good quality of life thanks to the trade.

Novan Starshine is an amber liquid distilled from native plants and fermented. It has been refined and perfected over the years and now is one of their few exports, other than raw materials.

Military

They have no military of any kind and never have. Now that they are a member of the Federation their hunters who in a pinch may have assumed a warrior role have been able to return to normal lives.

Due to the small size of their population less than 100 individual have ever enrolled in Starfleet or the Marines. However it should be remembered that when compared to their overall population this is in reality quite a substantial involvement by them.

Federation Intelligence Files

In 2178 the Novans became Federation citizens, when Terra Nova joined the United Federation of Planets.

By the 24th century the Novan population numbered 347,000.

Digger

The digger is a large burrowing animal indigenous to Terra Nova world. The Novans used the shells of the animal to make clothing and fed on its meat.

In 2151 Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed encountered a living digger in the underground tunnels of the Novans that quickly burrowed back into the earth. They later found a cavern with many digger shells.

Sources

Both Memory Alpha and Memory Beta were used as references as well as the TV episode, ENT: Terra Nova.

Also used was the ST reference book: Star Trek, Star Charts.

SDC

This file was updated and approved by the SDC on 11 March 2015.

Content from this article may have
come partially, or entirely from
 Memory Alpha

		SPECIES PROFILE UPDATED This profile was revised by the Species Development Committee.		REV 239603.05
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