Name: Novoland Eagle Flag / Novoland: Misty Records (九州·缥缈录) Author: Jiang Nan (江南) Raws: Six volumes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] (I've done my best at translating the intro/description from the link to volume 1.) In the desert grasslands of the northern continent of Novoland, there exists a nomadic people. All the men there are hot-blooded warriors. All the women there are as formidable as the men. Theirs is the Qingyang Empire. This is the story of the power struggles among those people, as well as the discord between the Qingyang and Eastern Empires. Prince Lu Guichen was sent away to Yanzhen by the king. Only after Yanzhen rebelled did Lu Guichen return to the northern capital. His brothers were not concerned with this young and sickly prince, only interested in their own rivalry for the throne. But in the midst of his brothers' power struggle, after experiencing war and the vicissitudes of life, the weak Lu Guichen slowly matures and strengthens. With the decline of the royal family of the East and the formation of several vassal states, Qingyang's king wants to use an alliance with the Tang in order to fulfill his desires of conquering the lands of the east. Thus, Lu Guichen is sent to the Tang Empire as a hostage. There, he meets a rebellious and unruly warrior, Ji Ye. Drawn by Ji Ye's tenacity and unwillingness to admit defeat, the two forge a deep friendship. ---- This is supposedly an epic fantasy, some places touting it as China's "Song of Ice and Fire." Which would naturally make me somewhat interested in checking it out. But I don't think my Chinese is anywhere near the level to read it as is, and I haven't found an English version. Anyway, it seems to be a well received series, and it's (I assume) different from a lot of the stuff on NU about immortals and cultivating and stuff. So, it'd be cool if someone was interested in translating this.
I know it's only been like a day, but still. No interest? So, there are actually several authors that have written novels/series that are set in the fictional Novoland. I was wondering why, and well, here's what Jiang Nan writes about the origins of Novoland via Vol.1. In case this might garner more interest. ---- As an author, we always have a kind of ambition, to bring about an enormous picture that we want to paint. But, even exhausting a century's time, how can one man write down the endless vision in his mind. So, in the end, we found a way: Create the world. In January 2002, there was a notice posted on a fiction forum, inviting users to write one story together at the same time. The original poster could never have expected that this would turn into an explosion that started a universe. At the start, it was just a small plan, but then more and more authors started to add to it. They finally decided to turn this into a large-scale fantasy world, allowing many authors to use the ideas, and for their works to reflect off of each other. This way, they could continue to build a real and vivid world. Originally, the world wasn't called Novoland (t/n: Alternatively, "Nine States," as there used to be one empire, which was eventually split into nine states comprising this world). We went through many big battles to decide the name, to decide whether there would be white skin or yellow skin. Finally, in April of 2003, Novoland was officially named. We started a forum to discuss the setting and to join together with other authors. The current lineup of authors involved with Novoland could be considered akin to the Real Madrid Dream Team. And the reason so many people were attracted to the project: A collaborative effort to fulfill the dream of creating a [new] world. Imagine it, these stories that echo each other. These standalone works that, when looked at collectively, became a masterpiece. As the characters moved about in different works, reflecting the light from all the corners and edges, you would see the world gradually forming with each grain of sand and with each leaf. This kind of thing brought such happiness. A fantasy world with such a detailed setting - the West has the system in Dungeons & Dragons. In that world, the classic Dragonlance Chronicles was created, along with the game Might & Magic, Magic: the Gathering card game, and various film and television works. This system has become one of the West's representatives in the fantasy genre. But in the East, in particular in China, there didn't exist such a detailed and shared fantasy world. Everyone was battling with each other, creating numerous stories. But just like rain falling onto a lake, they only left ripples before disappearing. Otherwise, it was New New Investiture of the Gods, New New Journey to the West, New New Eight Immortals, or New New Nezha's Triumph - taking ancient myths and mixing them up again and again, until they became unrecognizable and uninteresting. Have we lost our imagination and creativity? There had to be someone who would do something, whether it was for the honor of fantasy culture in the East or as a fabrication from our childlike innocence. Novoland was a dream. Like the first drop of water from the sky, we hoped that it will become the ocean.