MEDOWIE'S Joshua Ewen seems affable enough for somebody glaring at me through the grey skin of a monstrous mask and holding an axe nearly as tall as him.
Welcome to Swordcraft, perhaps Newcastle's best-known live action role-playing group, and the place where Ewen has tonight become his character Nibbles.
"Nibbles is a cannibalistic half-orc with a cruel, sadistic streak and really does not like anyone anywhere near him at all," he explains of his character of three years, one of three he inhabits on the sporting field.
The easiest way to describe Swordcraft, an example of live action role playing or LARPing, is as one part fencing to three parts Lord of the Rings.
President Beck Jenkins puts it simply: "basically we have a number of different factions that get together on a field and whack each other with swords".
Finding her way to the sport through cosplay, where she would dress as Harley Quinn, Jenkins decided she wanted more - to be the character, not just resemble them. Combined with a theatrical background, it was a match made in heaven.
"It's exercise while exercising your geekness," she said. "You will run, you will pant, you will probably have a bruise or two, but it's very good fun.
"We do have the odd person who thinks it's funny to drive past and go honk-honk geeks. It's like yes, we are, and we're proud of that.
"To be very honest with you, it frustrates me that there's still this lingering idea of what a nerd or a geek is, how TV portrays people like us ... we're normal everyday people who are just really proud of our interests and we don't hide them in polite society.
"When people can see us, it's normally a really good drawcard. We're not elitist - we just want people to turn up and be part of the community."
Ewen is quick to add you can't really judge the sport (yes, it's definitely a sport) from the sidelines.
"Most of my family actually does it," he says. "My mother, my sister do it ... my grandmother has actually taken one or two goes at it as well.
"It's terrifying to have an 80-year-old woman running around in a field with a mace chasing you."
The group's core is a close-knit band, but one that's eager to expand. With the headlights of Turton Road glittering behind the flowing capes and swordplay, there's perhaps no better position for them to pique the interest of passers-by.
That's how Ewen found his way into an half-orc's head, he explains.
"Honestly I've always been a big fan of history and medieval fighting in general, so when I was driving past one afternoon and saw some guys flogging each other ... five years later I'm part of it, slogging them."
"I had no idea what I was getting into when I first started, but now I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wouldn't go anywhere without any of these guys," he says.
"Most of us are generally what's defined as outcasts, but as a group of outcasts we've found ourselves quite comfortable with each other."
Almost every member of the group, which is on a recruitment drive, reinforces the group's welcoming atmosphere as among its best features.
Alexis, who swings a hammer and has played as a healer since joining the group about a year ago, says Swordcraft Newcastle's approach to newcomers goes well beyond politeness. She found her way to the sport after a University of Newcastle queer collective member recommended it.
"Being a part of the LGBTQ community, there are a lot of fellow LGBTQ people here so it's very inclusive," she said.
"People can just be themselves, and even if they're not themselves they can be the characters they want to be which is just as fun and just as enjoyable.
"Because we get a lot of neurodivergent and a lot of queer [people] you get a lot people who accept neurodivergent and queer people ... it just kind of ends up a very safe place for both of those communities."
"You don't have to hide who you are like you do sometimes in society. When you come here ... you can make a character that's who you want to be, who you can't be in real life, and you can just be that and it's a great escape."
Since it began in 2016 the group has migrated across a number of sporting fields, and may move again. At least a few onlookers have been confused enough in the past to call the police with wild tales of brawlers wielding swords, one participant explains with a smirk.
For now, at Wallarah Oval, the group finds itself in the shadow of a kind-of castle. As they get ready opposite McDonald Jones Stadium, co-founder Adam Mclarty jokes they are "the knights near the Knights at night".
"Here, instantly, people just see it was go "ooh, nerds" and turn up to see what we're doing," he said.
"It's not just for nerds. People think it's LARPING and it's the nerdiest sport ... normal nerds think what we're doing is nerdy, but it's not. We're outside, we're having fun.
"Anyone can join. You like to play sports? This is a sport, it's just got weapons and it's great fun."
The size of the chapter has ebbed and flowed, but Swordcraft Newcastle president Beck Jenkins says they're on a recruitment drive. Several members talk of major gatherings elsewhere, including the Melbourne club Newcastle's rulebook is modelled upon, and dreams that hundreds will take to the Hunter's battlefield someday.
The pre-bout scenes match traditional sport's preludes just closely enough that a hint of the absurd creeps in. Nibbles pays his match fees while a feather-hatted captain checks his phone on the sideline.
Where mowers and high school touch footy treaded just hours earlier, I watch people pull on leather and metal armour plating with the same nonchalance afforded soccer shin pads.
As the citrus hues of sunset begin to fade, there's a small crowd. There's a discussion about who has the keys for the ground's lighting as cones start to take shape on the grass, bags and gear gathering around the tuck shop building.
The pre-match briefing urges everyone to "Shatner it a bit" when they die for the Newcastle Herald's benefit. There's also a quick tribute to parting former president Callum Hirst.
"First session I showed up," Hirst says, recalling the early days of cheap T-shirts and matching swords sourced from the larger Melbourne chapter giving way to elaborate gear worth hundreds of dollars.
Nowadays warhammers and more fill out the arsenal, but most wield foam swords built around a core of fibreglass.
Most of them are swung with about the force you'd give a pinata that had refused to break after gentler swats. They're not going to slice their target, but you couldn't in good faith call them completely harmless.
Hurst shares a horror story from another chapter is that a poorly-maintained blade shed its foam coating, puncturing a player, but it's more cautionary tale than weekly risk.
The impression on Wallarah Oval is that you'd do very well to find a piece of "garb" that isn't lovingly repaired and maintained. Players apologise for spots of rust on their gleaming equipment that completely elude the untrained eye. It's the most elaborate costume party you've ever been to, and nobody has shirked the theme.
Players start warming up as darkness falls. Each strike reverberates with the loud report you'd expect from a sword-and-sandal epic's sound effects department. Agile movements are encumbered with the clank of armour that can grow heavy and hot as the rounds continue.
Contenders circle each other in wary loops, but it's no affectation.
Mclarty, who found his way to the sport through martial arts, tells me both sides are scanning the opposite number's defences the whole time the same way a boxer might.
It makes for thrilling sporting theatre; each staccato bursts of blows reverberates, both fighters step back, and two pairs of eyes locked on each other's movements as they pace like jungle cats festooned in fancy dress.
A smattering of hoodies and tights pop into the bubble of suspended disbelief a short way into proceedings, with several novice players coming to give it a try.
Loaned weapons and some basic attire, they're soon crossing swords with the most grizzled veterans on the field. As the battle cries roar and the fighting heats up, the smiles are infectious.
One thing is clear: nobody here is hiding behind a mask.
Swordcraft Newcastle meets on Friday nights. During wet weather, they relocate to Georgetown Guides Hall. For more information and updates, head to their Facebook page.
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