Peace River Defense Force
History
The Paxton Mining conglomerate was founded by a young Mekongese man by the name of Ebert Paxton. Unable to compete in the ruthless Mekong marketplace, Paxton moved to the Badlands to discover new opportunities. In TN 1595, after his surveys discovered iron and bauxite ore in the mesas east of the Pacifica mountain range, Paxton used his life saving to purchase an oasis tower near on of these mesas and reamed it Peace River. The proximity of this oasis tower to the Alpha maglev line and the ore made Paxton Mining profitable relatively quickly. In the early TN 1700s Paxton Mining began a process of diversification, beginning with the manufacture of mining equipment and light desert vehicles. While this was not very successful at first, the focus on diversification continued, and in the wake of the St. Vincent’s War proved to be a huge boon for the company.
When the war ended in TN 1729, Paxton was in a unique position to supply goods and services to the Polar Leagues who had lost a great deal of their manufacturing capabilities. Both sides were afraid the other would rebuild first and were intent on purchasing weaponry with which to defend themselves. Paxton complied and while it was criticized heavily for focusing on arms production in the wake of a war that had devastated all of Terra Nova, Paxton products were of high quality and became planet-wide standards as of TN 1750, when Paxton Mining officially became Paxton Arms.
While Paxton Arms was the de facto arms supplier for the planet, their entry into Gear production was delayed enormously. Primary historical sources from the era suggest that while the Hunter and Jäger were featured prominently in the St Vincent’s War, Paxton’s Research and Development division had a very difficult time reproducing the Optical Neural Net technology required for the vehicle to operate. Furthermore, Paxton documents indicate that both the CNCS and the AST pressured Paxton Arms to delay production, either due to fears the always-neutral company would sell to militias and criminals, or simply to cement their own hold on Gear manufacturing. By the time the first Warrior rolled off the production line in 1802, Territorial Arms and Northco had all but cornered the Gear market.
Overview
The PRDF still is a very small force by TN standards. Peace River and the entire Paxton Protectorate have less total population than any polar League. As a result, manpower constraints are extremely tight. The PRDF remains an entirely volunteer force and maintains a high level of training and discipline, backed up by the best equipment manufactured by Paxton Arms. While the PRDF does get Paxton equipment at cost, budget constraints still exist, and not all Regiments have been upgraded with the new vehicles developed by the PDP. There is hope, however, that a secret deal with rebel Eastern Sun Emirates Emir Nigel Shirow to sell older Warrior gears to the ESE rebels he leads will bring in the funds needed to upgrade all regiments.
Due to the small numbers of personnel and large area covered, the PRDF vehicles are designed for long patrols and independent operation. While this does mean a great deal of redundancy within vehicles, it allows for greater effectiveness with smaller numbers of troops against Rovers, PAK forces and Polar insurgents. In addition, Paxton’s expertise in air vehicles and the large central airfield have allowed for a greater number of airdroppable vehicles and rapid response teams, allowing the PRDF to project its forces where needed quickly and efficiently.