Union Defence Force
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| Motto | Pax in Bello | ||
| In use by: | Council of Eliria | ||
| Allegiance: | Elwynn | ||
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| Type: | Defence Force | ||
| Size: | 126,550 personnel
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| Nicknames: | The Ironsides | ||
| Commanders: | Vacant | ||
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History
The UDF has been through various incarnations but traces its ancestry back to the feudal militias raised by Elwynn to fight in the War of Vengeance and the Elwynnbrigaden which fought in the War of Jeremy's Nose and the Kai Aphmyarkaiph before being re-established as the Elwwehr in the wake of the White Lily Revolt. The UDF expanded dramatically in size during the era of Elwynnese independence and emerged as a political power broker in the tumultuous years prior to the establishment of the Coordinated State. It was abolished after the Communist Revolution of 1613 and replaced by various ad hoc revolutionary groups and a People's Militia. Following the Kalirion Restoration the UDF was re-established by decree of the Steward of Elwynn, the Storjarl Hallbjörn Haraldsson, in 1629 AN.
The UDF essentially collapsed after three separate wars against the Imperial Forces, these being the River War (1635), the Year of the Four Kaisers (1644) and the Auspicious Occasion (1651). Although victorious in the first two encounters, both triggered by rogue anti-Elw factions within the Imperial Government, the final decisive battle which united Imperialists and Elwynnese dissidents against Monarchists loyal to the House of Ettlingar Freyu was an abrupt and decisive coup during in which the UDF hesitated, wavered and finally went over to the Imperial side, joining the cudgellers in turning against the Froyalanish FLG and VTG.
In spite of backing the winning side the UDF was now at the mercy of its longstanding rivals the Imperial Army whose tribunes, legates and magisters took great pleasure from humiliating the Elwynnese officer corps by having them wait upon them as servants and personal attendants. This both demoralised the UDF and undermined the officers in the eyes of their subordinates. A wave of resignations ensued and the command and control of the UDF progressively collapsed.
As officers resigned and troops abandoned the colours, the active strength of the UDF was reduced down to the Zjandarian Guards, the 12th Naval Division, the Elwkustbevakning and the Amokolian Highlanders and much of its equipment forfeited to their old rivals the Imperial Forces whilst the General Staff was replaced by an Imperial Liaison Mission intended to reintegrate the UDF into the wider scheme of the Imperial Republic's collective defence. It was replaced after 1653 by the Republican Guard, a state security service geared towards maintaining internal security.
The Republican Guard however would ultimately prove to be an inadequate force for the magnitude of the task it faced, confronted as it was by the decay of the Imperial Republic in the aftermath of the War of Lost Brothers.
The third restoration of the UDF occurred in 1672 with the unification of the two paramilitary forces which had supported the Elwynnese Republic during its first year of independence in the aftermath of the Kalirion Fracture: these being the Elwynnese Liberation Army (consisting of cudgellers of the Northern Reaches and Akordionyr, supported by the ESB and the Iron Company, and volunteers) and the Sāzmān-e Basij-e Niruha-yeh Entezami (Babkhi paramilitaris active in Alalehzamin and Utasia). The Northern Banner Group of Benacia Command has been instrumental in equipping and reorganising the nascent new UDF and has assisted with the integration of defecting Imperial personnel into its ranks.
