The Panauan Civil War was a brief civil war that occurred in the Southeast Asian island nation of Panau in 2010. The island's authoritarian ruler, Pandak Panay, provoked uprisings by the far-left Reapers paramilitary, the far-right Ular Boys, and the Roaches crime syndicate with his misrule, while also making an enemy of the United States by tearing up the US-Panauan alliance treaty, certain that his massive oil reserves and his small nuclear arsenal could make Panau independent and powerful. However, America, Russia, China, and Japan each backed rebel factions in their struggle against Panay, who formally declared war on the island's gangs in 2010, triggering a short-lived war. As his control over the country slipped, Panay attempted to fire nuclear missiles at the intervening foreign powers, but his plot was thwarted by the American CIA, Panay was killed, and one of the missiles was reprogrammed to strike Panau's oil fields before any country could send its supertankers to stake their claim to Panau's oil rights. A US-friendly regime was ultimately installed in power, bringing an end to Panau's civil war and geopolitical importance.
Background[]
The Republic of Panau, a small island nation off the Malay Peninsula, was an ally of the Western Allies during the Cold War, with the CIA agent Tom Sheldon installing Papa Panay in office during the 1960s. Panay presided over a period of democratic capitalism while also utilizing American and British aid in combatting the Chinese-backed Reapers' communist insurgency. With its secret oil reserve (the largest in the world) and its wealth of lush jungles and other tourist attractions, Panau enjoyed a period of prosperity lasting into the early 21st century. Panau developed modern infrastructure with Western help, including the Panau Motorway System, Panau International Airport, the Panau Taxi Company, Panau City's towering skyscrapers, and even a space program.
While Papa Panay was pro-Western, his son, Pandak "Baby" Panay, saw America as "a wart on the face of the Earth" and railed against foreigners. In 2002, he arranged for his father's assassination by car bomb and seized power for himself. Baby Panay took down every statue of his father and replaced them with his own, established an authoritarian dictatorship, diverted government funds from hunger relief towards a massive military buildup, stripped the native Ulars of their rights and closed down their heritage sites, arrested and killed hundreds of citizens, built cramped condo buildings in Panau City to alleviate a housing shortage, created the Panau Air budget airline, and made the island a playground for the rich with casinos, hotels, and extra rights for the wealthy. Panay secretly planned to make Panau a superpower by leveraging its massive oil reserves and threatening the world's superpowers with his U1 nuclear submarine.
Opposition groups sprung up to oppose the Panay dictatorship. The Reapers continued to struggle towards the establishment of a socialist state, the ultranationalist Ular Boys fought for the restoration of Ular rule and the expulsion of foreigners from Panau, and the Roaches crime syndicate sought to seize control of Panau's ports and smuggled rugs and oil out of the country. Each of these rebel factions had international backing; Russia backed the Roaches, China the Reapers, and Japanese neoconservative industrialists the Ular Boys. Russia, China, and Japan each sought to acquire Panau's oil reserves for themselves, sending military advisors to aid their proxies in overthrowing Panay and taking power for themselves.
In 2010, Panay publicly shredded Panau's treaty of alliance with the United States, marking a major policy shift for his country and causing consternation in America. CIA agent Tom Sheldon went to Panau on a deep-cover mission to investigate Panay's plans in the wake of this unusual behavior, and he created the small "White Tiger" arms trafficking and rebel group as a cover for his research. As the rest of the CIA was unaware of Sheldon's status, agent Rico Rodriguez was sent to Panau to find Sheldon and neutralize him if he had become compromised.
War[]
Rising violence[]
Rodriguez and his handler Maria Kane inserted into Panau via helicopter, although their arrival was complicated when the anti-air batteries at Kem Gunung Dataran Tinggi opened fire on the helicopter and forced Rodriguez to make a detour and clear the fortress of Panauan Army resistance. Rodriguez proceeded to establish contact with the Swedish CIA asset Karl Blaine, saving him from the military at the Panau Falls Casino before the casino was slated for demolition and meeting agent Jade Tan along the way. Blaine put him in touch with the island's rebel groups, advising him to go undercover as a mercenary called "Scorpion" and gather information on Sheldon's whereabouts through working with the factions.
Over the next several days, Rodriguez met with the faction leaders Bolo Santosi, Razak Razman, and Sri Irawan, working with them to take over Panauan military strongholds and engage in assassinations, the escorting of faction members, and other violent acts against both the military and rival factions. Rodriguez was ultimately able to track down the mysterious arms dealer "Sloth Demon", another alter ego of the "White Tiger," with the help of the gambler Ken Pang and reunited with Sheldon, who revealed his purpose in Panau and reestablished contact with his CIA superiors. Sheldon and Rodriguez resolved to work together to uncover Panay's machinations, especially after Blaine was captured and informed on his lover Jade Tan, resulting in her capture as well. Through continuing to work with the factions and his own attacks on Panauan military bases, Rodriguez increased the pressure on the Panauan regime. Eventually, Panay decided to issue a formal declaration of war against the island's three gangs and proscribe their membership with a penalty of death.
Sheldon and Kane discovered that Tan was being held at Kastelo Singa in the frozen Berawan Besar Mountains, and they succeeded in rescuing her before she could be tortured by Panay himself. A submarine emerged from a frozen lake to destroy the base, but the CIA agents escaped on a helicopter before they could be harmed. Tan revealed that Russia, China, and Japan had each sent advisors to the factions: China had sent the former intelligence chief Zhang Sun to the Reapers, Japanese industrialists had sent the disgraced general Masayo Washio to help the Ular Boys, and the Moscow mafia boss Alexander Mirkov worked with Panau's own crime lord Razak Razman of the Roaches. The three advisors were tracked down to the Three Kings Hotel, where they were each assassinated by Rodriguez after intense fights. As Sheldon surmised that they would be followed by reinforcements from their own countries, he ordered Rodriguez to keep working with the rebels until Panay would be forced to show his hand.
Eventually, Panay was tracked down to the Wajah Ramah Fortress in the Selatan Archipelago, and Sheldon had Rodriguez contact a faction of his choice to aid with the final assault on Panay. Having developed a close relationship (and romantic interest) with Bolo Santosi, Rodriguez chose the guerrillas to aid in the attack. During the storming of Panay's stronghold, Karl Blaine escaped from his cell, and, thinking Jade Tan dead, interrupted Panay's confrontation with Rodriguez and charged him with a grenade. Blaine killed himself and injured Panay in the process, and Rodriguez - thinking Panay dead - escaped to rejoin his CIA colleagues.
Panay's supposed death did not end the crisis, as China, Russia, and Japan each covertly sent supertankers to Panau to take advantage of the power vacuum and secure the nation's oil. As US Navy assets from across the Pacific to defend Panau, Rodriguez was sent to secure the oil fields before the foreign powers could arrive. Panay surprised Rodriguez by emerging from the water aboard his nuclear submarine U1, which Rodriguez proceeded to board. There, a wounded and defeated Panay launched nuclear missiles at China, Russia, Japan, and America as his last show of force, but his shirt became snagged onto the US-bound missile, taking him with it. Rodriguez jumped onto another missile and disabled those bound for the Asian countries before jumping onto the US-bound missile, beating down Panay, and jamming his body into the engine controls. Rodriguez then reprogrammed the missile to strike Panau's oil fields, and he jumped from the missile and parachuted to safety as Panay and the missile crashed into Panau's coveted "black gold."
While Rodriguez's CIA colleagues were upset that he had destroyed Panau's incredibly valuable oil reserves, Rodriguez reasoned that he did not want to die in an apocalypse, as competition over Panau's oil might have caused World War III. With the foreign powers' interest in Panau lost, America would be able to establish a pro-US government in power in Panau. As Panay's colonels continued to command loyalist troops across the country's provinces, however, Rodriguez remained in Panau to take on mercenary work from the factions and battle the remnants of Panay's army.