About

Founders

Anthony and Steve share a passion for history and swords. Both were members of Canberra's dark ages reenactment group, the Ancient Arts Fellowship, and are now members of Canberra's LARP groups 'The Hundred Swords' and 'Wargrounds'.

Steve is a graduate of the ANU's School of Engineering, majoring in Mechatronics, and has worked in research and development for nearly a decade at places such as Electro Optic Systems working on military remote gun turrets, the ANU's Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems on projects such as the Sliver Cell, Kinetic Performance Technology working on novel measurement systems for sports science, and has previously attempted to start a business building robotic telescope mounts for astrophotography. The robot worked, but the business didn't. It was a learning experience.

Steve developed Elysian Forge's unique process for creating curved cores for LARP weapons, and now works (more than) full-time developing and producing Elysian Forge's products.

Anthony has been a business banker for 7 years, specialising in small business, and worked in multiple small businesses before that. Anthony's experience puts him in an excellent position as the business manager of the Forge. Anthony has been an admin for Canberra's LARP group, The Hundred Swords, for 3 years.

Design

Our passion for history and grounding in medieval re-enactment has provided us with a deep respect and delight for historical weapons.

As such, Elysian Forge's weapons are mostly based on historical examples, and we strive to replicate even tiny details for the sake of accuracy. We feel that historical weapons can be more easily adapted for fantasy than fantasy weapons for history. We try to make our weapon as realistic as practical to increase the immersion of LARP and the thrill of combat.

We are both fans of the fantasy genre and are open to creating both new fantasy weapons and replicas of famous weapons from movies, TV shows, and computer and console games.

Steve's grounding in Engineering has left him with a fascination with the physics of swords, and his designs attempt to replicate both the look and the feel of the weapons that inspire him. He feels that a good weapon is a work of art, and focuses on the simple, almost minimalistic grace in the shape of the weapon's blade and mountings first before considering decoration. He incorporates his knowledge of physics to balance the weight and rotational dynamics that make weapons feel ready for use, not just for display.