Over the past few years whenever I’ve heard the phrase “Fantasy Football”, I’ve begun to imagine a hybrid world where a Tolkien and D&D set of characters, plots, and landscapes lives side by side with the epic mythology of modern American Football. These thoughts and my love of maps developed into The Mystical Lands of Enefell, a map that I’ve illustrated with examples of regions and Warrior Champions that parody each of the 32 NFL teams.
Sports and the regions that correlate to sports fandom in the country are an interesting way of judging a certain cultural/geographic affinity of a people, and dividing them into separate nations was an exercise that appealed to me. In some ways it’s not dissimilar to other attempts to look at a cultural divisions in the nation, but I feel it has a particular interest to me because sports teams are typically city based, and fandom implies a sort of city-state and surrounding dominion that ports well over to a fantasy perspective of the world.
The regions within Enefell, are intended be more or less congruous with regions in the US that exhibit specific loyalties for each NFL team, and are loosely based on the 2015 Facebook Fandom Map for counties in the US where data related to who likes each team is expressed on a county level. I took some liberties with translating the map into a tapestry of Fantasy nations that included ceding the territory in southern Nevada that should rightfully belong to Dallas Cowboys to the Arizona Cardnals and the Denver Broncos as a way to prevent any incongruous nations, and replacing the dominance of the NY Giants over the NY Jets on Long Island to give the fantasy Jetsman a territory to call their own.
The names of the locations and the titles of the Warriors are fanciful takes on NFL names, fan culture and team traditions. I’ve also attempted to express some “love of the game attributes” in naming geographic features after specific NFL hall of famers and field positions. In addition the art designed for the Warrior Champion represented for each fantasy nation often parodies not only the mascots for NFL teams but also occasionally include regional and team design traditions along with standard fantasy tropes, and homonym puns like “Pae Tree Ents” instead of Patriots, and Pan/Thor instead of Panthor.
In no particular order The Mystical Lands of Enefell parody and are represented by:
Greenbay Packers, Orphic Pacman of Lombardi, The Lombardi Lands
Detroit Lions, Sheildstom of Lionia, Lionia
Chicago Bears, Mercenary of the Midway, Forest of Bears
Indianapolis Colts, Coltstead Hooligan, Coltstead, Centaur
Cleveland Browns, Brownie Rogue of the Unselee Court, Stronghold of Brownies
Cincinnati Tigers, Rajput of New Bengal, New Bengal
Denver Broncos, Horseman of Broncona, Broncona
Minnesota Vilkings, Viking of New Valhalla, New Valhalla
Seattle Seahawks, Magus of the Hawk Land Legion of Boom, Hawk Land
Atlanta Falcons, Defender of Falcor, Falcor
Carolina Panthers, Alliance Cat Rider, Holds of the Pan Thor/Alliance
New England Patriots, Tree Shepherd of Olde Pae, Olde Pae Tree Ents Kingdom
San Francisco 49ers, Warden of the 49 Keeps, The 49 Dwarven Keeps
Pittsburgh Steelers, Sentinel of the Steel Kingdom, The Great Dwarven Kingdom of Steel
Buffalo Bills, Custodian of the Falls, Bills Falls
New York Giants, Big Blue Wrecker of the Crews of Giants, The Land of Giants
Washington Redskins, Red Offender of the District, District of the Burnt Men
New York Jets, Jetsman of Airship Island, Airship Island
Oakland Raiders, Soul Patrolman of the Orcish Raiders, The Raided Lands
New Orleans Saints, Paladin of the Dome Patrol, The Sainted Lands
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pewter Pirate, Bucaneer Coast
Miami Dolphins, Merman of Dolphina, Dolphina
Jacksonville Jaguars, Wildcat of the Mire, Jaguar Mire
Philladelphia Eagles, Eagle Rider of Dell Philla, Dell Philla
San Diego Chargers, Supercharger Cavalryman of the Flats, Charger Flats
Dallas Cowboys, Ranger of the Cattle Drive, Great Cattle Driver Empire
Houston Texans, Texana Parade Bull, Texana
St. Louis Rams, Rider of Rams Realm, Rams Realm
Kansas City Chiefs, Orcish Chiefton, Confederacy of Orcish Chieftons
Baltimore Ravens, Black Watchdrake of the Realm, Ravens Realm
Arizona Cardinals, Sentry of the Cardnals Elite Guard, Cardnolia
Tennessee Titans, Titan of the Pass, Titans Pass
Individual stories about the Mystical Lands, including histories, relations with their neighbors and tales their champions (along with potential D&D stats) are forthcoming.
The continental map, and products related to each of the teams are available for sale in our Design Store.
