In-World Primer
Professional football is the largest single spectator sport on the shared continent of the Commonwealth and Nivaris. Known universally as the NFL, the league is a massive commercial, cultural, and political force that shapes city identity, regional rivalries, and generational loyalty across both nations.
To the public, it is just sport.
To governments, it is economic gravity.
To small towns, it is hope sharpened into obsession.
The NFL is jointly sanctioned by the Commonwealth Athletic Federation and the Nivarian Ministry of Sport and Culture. Despite political tension between the two nations, football remains one of the few institutions where competition is openly shared across borders.
Games are broadcast continent-wide.
Championships halt traffic in major cities.
Rivalries outlive administrations.
The NFL consists of 32 professional teams, evenly split between the two nations.
• 16 @Sylvaran Commonwealth Teams
• 16 @Nivaris Teams
The league is divided into two Conferences:
Western Conference (Commonwealth)
Eastern Conference (Nivaris)
Each conference contains four divisions of four teams. The regular season runs from late summer into winter, followed by the playoffs and the Continental Bowl, hosted in alternating nations each year.
Last year’s Continental Bowl was hosted in Evercrest, Commonwealth.
Football is a civic language.
Cities wear their teams as identity.
Budgets bend around stadium seasons.
Neighborhoods plan weddings around playoff schedules.
Small towns use teams as proof they exist.
Capitals use teams as proof they matter.
Players are celebrities, economic drivers, and political optics tools. Stadiums are often the largest structures in their regions, acting as modern civic monuments.
Continental Bowl Final Match
🏆 Evercrest Knights (Commonwealth Capitals @Evercrest )
vs
🥈 Moses Lake Ironleaf (Commonwealth @Moses Lake )
The Knights won by a single possession in the final quarter in a defensive, grinding match that went down as one of the most physical championship games in league history.
The Ironleaf’s loss became legend.
Moses Lake is one of the smallest market teams in the NFL. Their run to the finals turned a logging-and-factory town into a national story overnight. Flags still hang year-round in Moses Lake. Ironleaf colors are worn to work. Children practice drills in parking lots before school.
They lost the Bowl.
They gained an identity.
Evercrest Knights – Capital city prestige team
Moses Lake Ironleaf – Small-market powerhouse, runner-up last season
Ironfall Wardens – Industrial river city
Redcliff Sentinels – Mountain city defense specialists
Highridge Rams – Alpine plateau rushing offense
Stoneharbor Mariners – Coastal trade port team
Greyhaven Titans – Stormbelt megacity passing offense
Copperreach Forge – Factory city, heavy line play
Northspire Hawks – Northern cold-weather specialists
Glassfield Comets – Tech-driven urban franchise
Pinecrest Rangers – Forest capital rivals to Evercrest
Blackwater Breakers – Delta city blitz specialists
Sunreach Solars – Border city near Nivaris
Ironpass Wardogs – Mountain pass defenders
Westmere Kings – Agricultural megahub
Hearthmoor Banners – Historic colonial capital team
Nivaris Raiders – Capital city flagship franchise
Mont Brisé Vultures – Mountain city trench defense
Oasis Prime Nomads – Desert metropolis speed offense
Dunehold Scorpions – Blitz-heavy desert city team
Red Oasis Phantoms – Night-game specialists
Sandreach Corsairs – Coastal desert port team
Heliara Falcons – Plateau city vertical offense
Glasswind Cyclones – Solar city tempo specialists
Dustfall Reavers – Mining hub power offense
Mirage City Jackals – Trade-route city, unpredictable schemes
Sunspire Arbiters – Government district discipline team
Gold Dune Serpents – Elite offense, fragile defense
Ashara Wardrums – Militarized border city team
High Mirage Voyagers – Tourism hub franchise
Saltwind Drifters – Remote coastal endurance team
Kharim Basin Guardians – Oasis valley control team
The Ironleaf should not work on paper.
Small town.
Limited corporate backing.
One stadium.
One major sponsor: Sunland Weapons Manufacturing.
But their culture is relentless.
Most players come from rural towns and industrial districts. Many train in logging camps, river flats, and factory gyms. Conditioning is brutal. Team culture favors endurance, cohesion, and contact over flashy plays.
Their style is physical, disciplined, and punishing. The Ironleaf play to outlast opponents rather than outscore them early. They become more dangerous in the fourth quarter.
In Moses Lake, Ironleaf banners hang from porches year-round. The team is not entertainment. It is civic identity.
The Raiders are the pride of Nivaris.
Massive funding
Elite training facilities
High-profile recruitment
They play aggressive, high-tempo football built around speed and pressure. Their brand is dominance. Their fans expect playoffs as a baseline. Their losses become national talking points.
The Raiders are used by Nivarian media as a symbol of national confidence, discipline, and strength.
They are respected abroad.
They are relentless at home.
The NFL in this world is:
• Politically neutral, culturally powerful
• Capital-driven, but emotionally owned by small towns
• Highly commercialized, still deeply personal
• A collision of rural grit and metropolitan polish
No magic.
No spectacle beyond human limits.
Just perfected athletic training, strategy, and institutional power shaping how entire cities see themselves.
Football doesn’t decide wars.
But it decides what people argue about every week.