Editing David Varnay

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{{Update Needed|[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]|[[Handbook: House Davion]]|[[Inner Sphere (sourcebook)]]}}
{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| name                = David Varnay
| birthdate           = [[2480]]
| died                = [[2530]]<ref name=HBHDp35>''Handbook: House Davion'', p. 35</ref>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Varnay]]
| rank                = 
| title               = [[Prince of the Capellan March]]
| position            = 
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Thomas Varnay]] (father)
| siblings            = Yes
| spouse              = [[Cassandra Davion]]
| children            = [[Terril Davion]] (illegitimate)<ref name=ED:AWp6>''Era Digest: Age of War'', p. 6, "THE CONFEDERATED SUNS?"</ref><br/>[[Roger Varnay]]
}}
'''David Varnay''' was a twenty-sixth century Prince of the [[Capellan March]] of the [[Federated Suns]] and played a major role in the [[Davion Civil War]].

==History==
In [[2508]] Varnay was commander of a [[regiment]] on [[Royalston]] when Edward Davion, only son of [[First Prince]] [[William Davion]] was killed in a [[Capellan Confederation|Capellan]] hit and run attack. Accusations were made regarding his failure to provide support but investigation cleared Varnay of wrongdoing. [[2511|Three years later]] he married William's sister, [[Cassandra Davion]].

William's sudden death in [[2512]] left his five-year-old grandson [[Alexander Davion]] as First Prince with Cassandra and Varnay as two of the five regents. By the day of William's funeral, Varnay was already making a bid to secure his power: securing a betrothal between his niece [[Cynthia Varnay]] and Alexander, although he was blocked from naming Cynthia as the next in line to the throne.

Varnay successfully split his opposition in [[2515]], naming General [[Nikolai Rostov]] to succeed the dead Prince [[Charles Leighton]], killed in a Terran raid on [[Robinson]]. This provided Rostov with a power base in the [[Terran March]] independent of his previous ally, [[Laura Davion]]. Following the death of Dowager Princess [[Carmen Davion]] in [[2518]], Varnay began purging the [[High Council]] of moderates and of Laura's supporters. In [[2521]] Varnay missed a critical vote of the Regency Council, absent seeking military glory on the Capellan front. In his absence, Laura proposed that Rostov be elected First Marshal of the Federated Suns, reestablishing their alliance.

Varnay abducted Alexander from [[New Avalon]] in [[2523]] and the [[2824|following year]] pushed through the long-planned marriage of the young Prince to Cynthia Varnay. However, Varnay underestimated the depth of feelings between the two. Within a year Cynthia was pregnant and Varnay mistakenly confided in her the plan to name himself Royal Protector should anything happen to Alexander. In May [[2525]] while Alexander was accompanying Varnay on an inspection of Capellan troops preparing for the imminent clash with Rostov and Laura, the young Prince escaped under cover of the celebrations of the birth of [[Vincent Davion]].

While Varnay proved no equal to Rostov in the fighting, his political skills were far greater and when the aged General died in an assault, Varnay was able to sway many of his regiments to his side with shrewd bribes. Without Alexander, who was raising his own forces, both Cassandra and Laura named themselves First Prince. In [[2530]], as all sides prepared to move, Varnay was killed by an anti-Varnay riot on [[Ashley]].

==Family==
David Varnay left behind him two sons [[Terril Davion]] and [[Roger Varnay]]. Because Terril was born to Cassandra before their marriage, Roger was considered the legitimate heir.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Handbook: House Davion]]''


[[Category:Federated Suns Characters|Varnay, David]]