Valerie Stepanoff

Valerie Stepanoff
Culture	Cirréonese
Religion	{{{religion}}}
Gender	Female
Race	Human
Ethnicity	{{{ethnicity}}}
Nationality	Cirréone
Title(s)	{{{titles}}}
Age	66 (at time of death)
Birth	{{{birth}}}
Death	{{{death}}}
Player	{{{player}}}

⚠️The following information is considered external lore, containing events that did not influence the characters or the world of Cinder.⚠️
Valerie Stepanoff was a Cirréonese philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian, journalist and revolutionary socialist. Her best known works are her pamphlet Black Capital, and her book Capital, And Its Crushing Weight, both written during the height of the Cirréonese Industrial Revolution; the latter being a critical analysis of capitalismemploying philosophical and economic concepts to call for the collectivisation of the means of production in the workers by means of a revolution. Stepanoff's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Stepanism, have had enormous influence on modern intellectual, economic and political history, especially in Cirréone, whereby Orthodox Stepanism is the state ideology.

Born in Léttona to a middle class family in the Republic of Cirréone, Stepanoff studied at the University of Milacieur and received a doctorate in philosophy at age 24. Influenced by the new philosophies emerging from the Republican Government, she would write many texts on polycracy, both criticising and developing the theory surrounding them. At age 29, Stepanoff would begin reading into proto-socialist economics and politics, and would begin developing her theory of communism. After over a decade of writing, this would culminate in her book Capital, And Its Crushing Weight, regarded as the first major text of socialist and communist theory. Following this, she would famously write the pamphlet Black Capital, in aims of recruiting more in her home nation, Cirréone, as to her political ideology. Black Capital would rise to be the single most reprinted political text in Cirréone, often printed secretly as to evade government interference. This would land her expelled from Cirréone. Subsequently, she would move to Wolfberg, where she would continue to write in secrecy, while living under a false name. Aged 66, she would pass away peacefully at her home in Wolfberg.

Stepanoff's critiques of history, society and political economy would outline her beliefs as to the harsh negative impacts of capital, and the inherent social divide it brings in form of class divide. Her works would illustrate her theory of the international War on Capital, a theoretical term dictating the need for several revolutions across Cinder, across time, to reach an eventual goal of all nations having socialist governments, and the complimentary theory of the national and international communes, by which national communes should first be formed prior to international union within a socialist system. Her political works would be undoubtedly influential, inspiring numerous socialist thinkers, theorists and revolutionists for the over a century to come. Her works would also inspire the state ideologies of many nations, notably the International Commune, two Communes of Cirréone, the Worker's Republic of Paxia, the Bardovian Republic, and more broadly speaking the former Socialist State of Crannoghold.

Biography

University and early politics

Being of the middle-class, Stepanoff's family could afford to send her to the University of Milacieur to pursue her great interest in the politics of the Republic of Cirréone. To which, she would originally attend to study law, aged 16. Her classes, however, would not initially satisfy her. In her free-time, however, as she read more into Republican politics and the theories of polycracy, she began to read more into the philosophy surrounding it. This would pique her interest, so much so that she would switch her field of study to philosophy, to her fathers discontent, as he saw it as a much less practical field. Nevertheless, she would pursue it. Over the course of her university education, she would become extremely well versed in philosophical theory, especially those surrounding polycracy.

Following university, she would go into a career of journalism, writing for the radical polycratic newspaper 'Nation Narodnie,' which would grow increasingly following her joining, with her style of writing being described, famously, as "addictive, with depth unseen before." It would be during this period that she would also start expressing doubts in the capitalist system, commenting on the class divide ever-present in the free-market, and its need to be quelled by economic reforms, charity, and wealth redistribution. Thus, she would start advocating for higher wages, and would inspire the formation of trade unions as a means of communicating the issues felt by the working class to their employers. She would continue to do this, growing more and more radical in her politics, inspiring strikes and calling for a complete restructuring of the capitalist system of economics, growing a following in intellectuals of the time and the working class, who would collectively begin calling themselves 'socialists,' based on one report she published titled 'Social Ideology: Our Demands.' Her political radicalisation would culminate, however, in her reading into various proto-socialist philosophers and their works, when she was 29 years old, which would inspire her theory of communism, and her writing of Capital, And Its Crushing Weight.

"In the early morning, prior even to dawn, following my reading of Boyd's report 'On Social Class,' I awoke in great sweat and haste, with the clear image of the international commune, and the greater socio-economics of communism. I would write all my most fundamental notes unto paper before returning to my bed, excited to begin writing in the dawn."

— Valerie Stepanoff

excerpt from her diaries

Writing of Capital, And Its Crushing Weight

Immediately following her revelation, she would begin writing. She would completely immerse herself in economic theory, history, and philosophy, often spending long nights in libraries and engaging in heated debates at local worker’s meetings. Her initial drafts were scattered and fragmented, but the core ideas began to take shape. Roughly 3 years into her writing, she would begin to travel extensively alongside her writing, speaking to workers, farmers, and small business owners. In this time she would try to devote almost all time to her research and writing, but after 5 years of writing she needed a break. She would spend this break writing more on the current news of the time, sinking more effort into her journalism, now writing independently of her previous publication, instead finding publishers in members of the newly founded 'Socialist League.' This however would prove to be a great setback, as her publishers would hence face censorship or prison, as a result of her works. Ultimately, this would land her financially insecure to a grave degree.

With this, she decided to return to her writing, but, with the pace at which she worked, would suffer physically. She would subsequently decide to ask for support from the Socialist League, which she would put more effort into. They would of course accept and would financially support her, and would help study and research alongside her, and at the same time her writing would become much more cohesive and comprehensive. Following her supporters' suggestions, she would begin serialising excerpts from the book for feedback from other socialist thinkers, with which she would refine her arguments. After roughly 10 years of writing then, she decided that she needed solitude. She would move to the countryside to avoid distractions, and generally become quite reclusive, devoting her entire time to her writing. During this last period, her supporters would occasionally come to bring supplies and emotional support, but otherwise, she would speak to not one person, lasting until she finished writing. Once Stepanoff had completed the book, she would struggle, at first, to get it published, with most publishers obviously opposing its publishing and her socialist publishing friends mostly wary of publishing anything radical anymore, however, she would eventually have it published anonymously through the Socialist league. At first however, it would only reach limited popularity, mostly with philosophers, economists, and other such intellectuals.

Time in Cirréone following Capital, And Its Crushing Weight

Following her completion of Capital, And Its Crushing Weight, Stepanoff would try focusing on socialist activism once more, setting aside all writing. This would materialise in more labour organisation efforts, especially through the Socialist League. This would last, at least, until she noticed the limited reach of her magnum opus, and decided to write Black Capital as an extremely short introduction, basic summary, and piece of agitation propaganda, as to spread the message of communism and the need for activism, and even revolution. She would publish it through the same anonymous means as Capital, And Its Crushing Weight and it would swiftly become immensely popular in Cirréone, being spread around working peoples' circles, inciting activism, such as strikes and protests, and being reprinted countless times by numerous parties. Alongside this, it would also fulfil its purpose of popularising Capital, And Its Crushing Weight. Subsequently, the success of Black Capital would also very quickly land Stepanoff in the eye of the Viscountist government, who would order her expulsion from the nation of Cirréone on the basis of revolutionary, and therefore treasonous, stirrings.

Expulsion and later life

Following her expulsion, Stepanoff would begin the process of moving to Wolfberg, where she would spend the rest of her life, in secrecy. Realising that no nation would want the revolutionary living there, she decided to live under a false identity, going by Sophia Martin. She would disclose to the Socialist League and her communist supporters that she would step away from the League for the most part as to evade government persecution, but would try to keep writing on the issues of capitalism and about communism and socialism in secrecy. While living in Wolfberg, she would largely live as a recluse, and would write immensely, rarely publishing or showing it to anyone, however, she would write a few reports and a several letters to members of the Socialist League in Cirréone. She would die of an unknown disease at the age of 66, being found so over two weeks after her passing, among all her writings. Her writings would be confiscated and held, until the Firework Revolution, when they would be found by the CSP and published, over a century after her passing.

Thought

Main article Stepanism