Davion Civil War

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Timeline

Prelude to War

The Davion Civil War erupted as a result of the machinations of the Council of Regents while the legal heir to First Prince William Davion, the young Alexander Davion, was too young to rule. However, the origins of the war began somewhat earlier.

William Davion had been groomed to rule by his aunt, Ellen Davion, who had reigned as First Prince from 2467 to 2502. Ellen's claim to the throne had nearly been defeated by Richard Varnay, Chancellor of New Avalon and Constable of the Crucis March; to neutralize Richard, who had overreached himself in the attempt to seize the throne, Ellen promoted him to the post of Prince of the Capellan March, moving him away from New Avalon. Varnay's descendants would continue to lust after the throne of the Federated Suns, with tragic consequences.

William had a single son, Edward Davion, who was serving as a young officer in a BattleMech unit within the Federated Peacekeeping Forces (FPF) during one of the border wars with the Capellan Confederation when he was killed in action on Royalston. Although Edward and his unit were killed by Capellan raiders, accusations of treachery on the part of the Varnays ran rampant because a nearby FPF unit loyal to the Varnays was in position to support Edward's unit, but somehow failed to arrive in time. While the commander of the unit was exonerated by a subsequent investigation, Edward left behind a two-year-old son, Alexander, and his wife, Sondra Black Davion, also a serving FPF officer.

Sondra was killed in action when her DropShip was destroyed in battle above the world of Avigait in 2511. Her death left Alexander as the direct heir to the throne of First Prince, with his aunts, Cassandra and Laura Davion as possible alternatives. The same year Alexander was orphaned, Cassandra married David Varnay, the heir to the Capellan March - and a man every bit as ambitious as Richard Varnay had been. While the throne seemed secure at the time - William Davion was only 43 years old, with plenty of time to father more heirs - William died during an outbreak of a virulent plague on New Avalon in 2512. Immediately complicating the succession was William's final action - having regained consciousness briefly before his death, William reaffirmed Alexander as his successor, but passed the signet ring of the First Prince to Cassandra Varnay, and his seal to Laura, the older of the two sisters. This was taken to indicate that William intended for Cassandra and Laura to serve as Regents until Alexander reached his majority.

Council of Regents

The Council of Regents was formed in accordance with what were believed to be William's wishes and in line with the Act of Succession passed into law during the rule of Ellen Davion. Under the terms of the Act Laura and Cassandra would serve as the heads of the Council of Regents, and each was entitled to appoint another Regent. The fifth member of the Council was then selected by the Federated Suns High Council. Cassandra appointed her husband, David; Laura Davion chose to elect a powerful and popular FPF General, Nikolai Rostov. The fifth and last member of the Council was duly elected by the High Council, who chose Carmen Estevez Davion, widow of William Davion.

The latter appointment was largely honorary, as the Dowager Princess had been crippled by a series of strokes suffered after the deaths of her son, her daughter-in-law and then her husband. Carmen never mustered the strength to oppose the machinations of Cassandra and Laura.

Council Machinations

The various factions within the Council began jockeying for power on the day William Davion was buried; the first to act was David Varnay, drawing on both his vote and his wife's; David tabled motions suggesting that the young Prince Alexander be betrothed to the Varnay's niece, Cynthia Varnay, and that Cynthia be named Heir-Apparent in the event of Alexander's death. The latter motion was rejected, but with Nikolai Rostov supporting the betrothal proposal the first motion passed. Rostov's instinct was that the Varnays would be less brutal in their actions if they felt they had a clear route to power, thereby buying time for both himself and Laura to gain influence.

The Dowager Princess retired to live in seclusion on New Andalusia, destroying the High Council's hopes of moderating the actions of the various Regents; before retiring, Carmen passed her vote to Laura, effectively splitting the Council. With Laura controlling two votes and the Varnays controlling another two, the deciding vote invariably lay with General Rostov, but each member of the Council began openly exercising the power of their positions for personal gain.

When Prince Vladimir Kerensky of the Draconis March died childless, Rostov supported Laura Davion's bid for the Principality, giving her access to a power base of her own comparable to the Varnay's influence. When the Prince of the Terran March, Charles Leighton and his immediate family were killed in a raid by the Hegemony Armed Forces on Robinson in 2515 the Varnays nominated Rostov as his successor; Laura had to support the nomination or risk alienating the General, but his rise to rule the Terran March also made him a direct competitor to both factions, reducing Laura's ability to trust him - although Nikolai would spend the next five years repelling a Terran Hegemony offensive into the Terran March.

With the Prince of the Outer March determinedly steering a neutral course, Laura became increasingly isolated as Rostov began securing his own power base; the Council made one last attempt to restrain the various Regents using the Dowager Princess, but her death in 2518 rendered the effort moot. The Varnays responded to the High Council's efforts by using secret service agents in their employ to produce evidence purportedly demonstrating an active plot to overthrow the Council of Regents originating with the moderate faction within the High Council. From 2518 to 2520 infamous Treason Trials ran, purging the High Council of both the majority of the moderates and many supporters of Laura Davion, although they were careful to avoid harming anyone with connections to Rostov, as they hoped to secure him as an ally.

Davion Versus Varnay

Threatened by both Rostov's power base within the military and the political influence by the Varnays, the High Council felt unable to name a replacement for Princess Carmen; this left the Council of regents effectively deadlocked, although Laura continued to argue that Carmen's delegation of voting rights had been permanent, rather than limited to her own lifetime, a position the High Council was again reluctant to take a view on out of fear of both Rostov and the Varnays.

Rostov's influence within the military had been cemented by his brilliant five-year campaign against the Terran Hegemony, but when David Varnay attempted to establish his military credentials in actions on the Capellan border in 2521 he not only failed, but highlighted Rostov's abilities in the process. The Varnays then found their position undercut when Laura used Rostov's successes to suggest the creation of a new post - First Marshal of the Federated Suns - commanding all of the military posts across the five Principalities; with David still in combat, Cassandra made the mistake of opposing the motion, an action that not only failed but also alienated Rostov.

With tensions mounting rapidly, the Varnays were forced to play a waiting game until an opportunity to act presented itself; that opportunity was the eruption of a border clash with the Draconis Combine that Marshal Rostov was forced to devote his attention to in 2523. With Rostov distracted the Varnays abducted Alexander and transported him to New Syrtis under the pretence that he was performing a grand tour in the style of his grandfather, Simon Davion.

Alexander was sixteen when he was abducted by the Varnays, disliked his aunt Cassandra and actively hated David Varnay. At an early age one of Alexander's nurses had hinted that David was complicit in William's death, and Alexander had chosen to devote himself to both the study of military disciplines such as warfare, strategy and tactics, but also the memoirs of the most successful of his ancestors to hold either the Presidency of the Federated Suns or who had ruled as First Princes, including Reynard Davion, Paul Davion, Simon Davion and his great-aunt, Ellen Davion. The teenage Alexander had decided that he would avenge his father and remove his power-hungry relatives, a plan that he kept secret but worked towards with the same single-minded focus and drive that characterised many of the Davion line. To protect himself, he continued to act the role of the fop, even while he was being kept a prisoner on New Syrtis.

In 2524 the Varnays married Alexander to Cynthia Varnay, hoping for an heir to be born that would secure their route to the throne. News of the marriage forced Laura to make a separate peace quickly with the Combine, to allow both her and Rostov to mobilize for a conflict between their forces and those controlled by the Varnays Where both factions errored was in their estimations of Cynthia's character; not only had Alexander and Cynthia discovered that they did in fact love each other, but Cynthia lacked the ambition typical to the Varnays but shared their strong will. When it was discovered in August 2524 that she was pregnant, Cynthia learned that her aunt and uncle considered Alexander to be a disposable asset, and reacted by actively working to save Alexander from her own family.

With Prince Rostov working to resolve the conflicts plaguing the Terran March alongside his son Dmitri, a dynamic and skilled military leader in his own right, and Laura marshalling her forces, the Varnays became increasingly distracted, giving Cynthia and Alexander the opportunity to begin working on Alexander's escape.

Laura surprised the Varnays when she arrived on New Avalon in late 2524, escorted by an elite strike force; supported by Marshal Rostov and still claiming control of the Dowager Princess' vote, she denounced the Varnays, claiming that they had abducted Alexander and were enemies of the state. Laura used the charges and the support of those members of the High Council who hadn't already fled to strip the Varnays of their respective Regencies; the Varnays responded by assembling a rump High Council of their own on New Syrtis and declaring that Laura was illegally occupying New Avalon, an act of treason, and began building a militia army within the Capellan March to oppose Laura's forces.

Alexander was still too young to be of direct use to the Varnays at this point, as by Federated Suns law he wouldn't reach majority until his twentieth birthday in 2527; the Varnays decided to use him as a symbol of the legitimacy of their claims, at least until his heir was born, and began by countering the stories of him being a prisoner through David taking him on a tour of several worlds within the Capellan March where Varnayist forces were being mustered while Cynthia remained on New Syrtis with Cassandra. Although he had little choice, Alexander went along with the tour, as he and Cynthia knew that their enforced separation would also present the best opportunity for Alexander to escape.

When Cynthia learned of the route that David's procession would be taking, she made contact with anti-Varnay elements within the Capellan March, preparing for Alexander's escape. She and Alexander had decided that the signal for him to escape would be the news arriving of the successful birth of their child, which occurred in May 2525 when Cynthia gave birth to Vincent Davion. The arrival of the news coincided with Alexander's stop on Sekulmun, the third stop of David's tour; unable to restrict Alexander's movements as completely during the inevitable popular public celebrations around Vincent's birth, David couldn't prevent Alexander's escape. By the time David learned that Alexander was missing, he had already been smuggled off-world - and as Alexander was escaping, Laura launched the first open attack in what would become known as the Davion Civil War, an assault against the world of Kluane which if successful could potentially sunder the Capellan March into two halves.

Bibliography

• House Davion (The Federated Suns)