As today is the release date for drama Novoland Castle in the Sky, I am writing this special post about Novoland! One of our commenter, xingfenzhen, recently inspired me to write this post. He is an expert when it comes to the Novoland universe and shared some great information with us in the comment section. With the general interests toward these productions (Tribe and Empires, Novoland: Castle in the Sky, etc), I thought it would be a good idea to write a general post to guide through this new genre.
First of all, you can find a lot of past discussion as while as more information by following the forum he/she is moderating on onehallyu here.
me: What is this universe?
xingfenzhen answered:
This universe is called Jiuzhou/九州, which sometimes is translated as Novoland. It basically a fictional universe with known world of 3 continent and 9 provinces. (Not fully explored sea to the east and deserts to the west) It has a history of 10000 years divided into ten eras and about 16 dynasty (on the human side)
There are 30 books written for that universe and there are 7 principle authors that write novels for them. The project was started in early 2000s when Lord of Rings was popular in China, and people want do the kind of world building but based on Chinese mythology instead of usual Xianxia story with small scale adventure and a bit of romance. (Ice Fantasy, and 云荒Series also came from that era)
Recently a lot of those book has turned into drama and movie, since China now have the budget to do those films and there is demand for them in the mainstream as well.
Who are the most influential authors of this genre?
- 江南/Jiangnan: 缥缈录(Novoland Eagle Flag) This one is huge with 5 volumes
今何在/Jinhezhai: 海上牧云记 (Storm of Prophecies), 羽传说 (Legend of Feather) - 大角/Dajiao: ·铁浮图 (Iron Calvary), 死者夜谈 (Tales of the Dead), 白雀神龟(White Bird and Magic Turtle)
- 斩鞍/Zhan’an: 旅人(Traveler), 朱颜记 (Tales of Beauties) Unlike other author, he focus on commoner’s tales rather than heroes and monarchs.
- 唐缺/Tan Qe: 殇翼 (Lost Wings), 星痕 (Star Trail), 云之彼岸 (Farside of Clouds). He wrote mostly short novel telling a single event rather than long epics.
The Map
Other dramas and live adaptations:
- Hua Xu Yin 华胥引: City of Desperate Love (debatable) –> Chao Dynasty
- Tribe and Empires: Storms of Prophecies 海上牧云记 –> Duan Dynasty
- Novoland: Eagle Flag 缥缈录 (video game so far)
- Legend of the Naga Pearl 鲛珠传 (movie) with Zhang Tian Ai
- Novoland: Castle in the Sky 天空城
If you understand Chinese, you can read through the history of this world by following this link here.
Pictures of the Novoland universe:
These pictures were released as promotional material for the drama Tribe and Empires that should come out at the end of this year.
Also, a few throwback stills of Novoland Castle in the Sky to let you see a different kind of setting.
Drama Hua Yu Xin which was considered by some as a Novoland drama.
The poster for upcoming Novoland movie, 鲛珠传 Legend of the Naga Pearls with Zhang Tian Ai.
Also, here is a still for the advertisement of the video game version for Novoland: Eagle Flag.
Cdramadevotee 
What’s the movie with Zhang Tian Ai about??? Looks cool! I miss watching her!!!
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I was so out of the loop I didn’t notice this project before writing this post either! The drama also stars Darren Wang. It is the story of three people with very different background (a thief, a detective and a prince) meets and have to travel together in Novoland world. Sounds like a fun plot for a movie ^^
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Yes… this looks so awesome 😀 Thank you for all this information.
I am surprised this world does not have more connexion to each other, it would have been nice if there are some deeper connections among the dramas
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Well, the main plot line is the struggle between bright moon forces and dark moon/stars forces. The former want to the bring order to the world, the latter chaos. However, it was known that the moment absolute order arrives in the world is the moment the world ends, so the forces sewing chaos is actually trying to prolong the existence of the world itself.
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Thank you! I guess what I am trying to say, is I hope the dramas are more connected. Out of the upcoming projects, I am the most excited about Storm of Prophecies… Hope it will be good ><!
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Well, the first few episodes are out for castle in the sky, and the novoland fans (many not aware of project until very recently) are up in arms about its quality and how the setting doesn’t match up with the general novoland setting and history. In one instance, a novoland fan’s father has watched drama and is questioning the quality of the all books he got, which really frustrates him.
Even the author Tang Que is clarifying on Weibo that he was only briefly consulted in the planning stage of the drama and was not involved in actual script writing and development of the drama and plot/setting of the soon to be released Castle In Sky book will be very different from the drama as well…. ><
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It definitely had a fairy like feel that reminded me of the Chinese mythology dramas I used to watch when I was younger. I thought Novoland is a world of magic+history and with such a title, I did expect more fairy like themes. It is sad that the original novel fans are not receiving it well 😦 This must be very disappointing for them!
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Thank you for this information. This makes me understand dramas better, I particularly enjoyed Hua Xu Yin and did wonder about the premise of the drama as it seemed an odd concept.
Now, I can’t wait for the new upcoming dramas!
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Same! This is such a mysterious world and I am excited to learn more from it in the upcomming year ^^
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