The descendants of the human colonists of Terra Nova, who survived a radioactive catastrophe by retreating underground and, within seventy years, no longer regarded themselves as human.
The Novans appear in the Enterprise episode Terra Nova. The colony was founded by the ship Conestoga after a nine-year voyage and was one of Earth's first settlements beyond the solar system. Relations with Earth soured over plans to send more settlers, and then contact ceased altogether.
In 2151 Enterprise discovers what happened. An asteroid impact spread radiation over the settlement and killed the adults, who believed that Earth had attacked them. The children fled into caves, and their descendants grew up with mottled skin, a dialect of their own and a deep fear of humans.
The Novans wound Reed and take him captive. Archer wins over their leaders, Jamin and Nadet, by showing an old photograph of Nadet as a child and by helping to rescue a trapped Novan. As the groundwater is contaminated, the Novans agree to be moved to caves in the planet's southern hemisphere.