Alessandra DeGaio | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ducissa of La Rossa | |
| In office 7-2 15 PC – 7-2 29 PC | |
| Preceded by | Giulio Falcone |
| Succeeded by | Dario Silvano |
| Advisor | |
| In office 7-3 5 PC – 7-2 15 PC | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16-5 42 TT Salino |
| Died | 1-3 29 PC Salino |
| Nationality | Rossan |
| Parent(s) | Giuseppe DeGaio (father) Antonia DeGaio (mother) |
Alessandra DeGaio (7-2 42 TT – 1-3 29 PC) was a Ducissa of La Rossa, reigning during a period from 15 PC to 29 PC. Propelled to power during the revolutionary period of La Denunzia, he would be the first Dux to not hail from the aristocratic Six Families, and the only to never be elected, as no elections were held until his resignation in 15 PC. The first leader to be elected after the Second Calming, she became the first woman to hold the position of Dux. Her reign oversaw the re-democratization of the island, the dismantling of the silver standard, and the slow privatization of many previously state-owned industries, nationalized during the reign of Dux Giulio Falcone.
Early Life
Raised to a working class family in Salino, the young Alessandra DeGaio saw her salt-mining father die early in her life at the age of six. With parenting done mostly by her mother and, occasionally, her grandmother, DeGaio saw the power of the women in her family from a young age, surprised to later learn that not many others in society shared her sentiments. Graduating from school, her family found themselves unable to support higher education for her, and she instead found herself employed in a fabric factory. Displeased with the low wages of her fellow coworkers, perhaps too loud with her criticism, she would be lucky that the only ears of importance she would reach would be of her friend, who secretly handed her a tattered copy of La Libertà, with the sole instruction not to show it to the world. Despite her confusion at first, her reading later at home under the midnight candlelight soon made her realize the value of the text she held in hand, one which would define her for life. Losing her job during the period of the Silver Crisis, the radicalized working woman would stand up with a mission in mind.
La Denunzia
The Silver Crisis of 1 PC provoked an unprecedented age of societal discontent. As Dux Mario Buonestrotti di Buglio struggled to restart the nation's economy that had grinded to a halt, the rising poverty and irritation with the aristocracy's rule gave a platform for many movements that protested economic, but also societal conditions. With restrictions on voting being placed on a vast majority of the population, a degree of solidarity began to hesitantly emerge over the years, before becoming largely embraced by the movement. DeGaio, taking to the picket lines, became Salino's icon of the working woman, gaining significant support from the oft-ignored half of the populace. Arrested on several occasions, she had spent the large part of La Denunzia behind bars, before being released into freedom as a swarm of people broke through the prison gates on the day of the Dux's resignation, mere days after his coronation in 5 PC. With protests over her final arrest raging on for months, her forced silence made her a legend of the city's movement, held almost in the same regard as Dux Falcone, crowned in Tolia.
Advisor
As Dux Falcone was carried to the glory of the office, it became clear how quickly the old societal order of the island was crumbling apart. His rulership legitimized by popular will, the soon-to-be-elected Advisory Council was thrown out as a possibility, shown as another relic of the corruption of the past. Paying tribute to the rising movements that got him to power across the island, the Dux would appoint their popular leaders as Advisors, in a show of strength against the old system and unity of the Rossan people. Even though their ranks included men such as the future Dux Dario Silvano, his most interesting pick would be Alessandra DeGaio herself, a mostly symbolic move to show the Denunzians' fight for equality, as she would become the first woman to hold such office, a result of a lack of women's right for candidacy or vote that pervaded over the previous centuries.
Though mostly a formality at the beginning, with a dash of goodwill, the move would in time propel DeGaio to island-wide fame, and make her one of its most important voices. Starting her Advisory like most other in her place, serving as nothing more than the Dux's government's mouthpiece, her tone and rhetoric began to change sharply as the Rossan elections continued being delayed, a sign she took as the Dux refusing to lessen his grip on power. A fervent ideologue to the same texts that purportedly motivated Giulio Falcone, her criticism of the Dux soon turned to sharp accusations of betrayal against La Libertà's core principles, as she had taken that the actions taken against the supporters of the old regime had gone to extents far more than necessary.
Taking her words with unease about his own legacy, the Dux would resign in 14 PC, calling for nation-wide elections early next year. At DeGaio's advice, the elections would be the first one to feature universal suffrage, accessible to all Rossan, regardless of social status or gender. Rising to popularity due to expressing many frustrations prevalent amongst the populace, she quickly became the frontrunning candidate, and secured a landslide victory in the elections of 15 PC.
Ducissa
Quickly learning of power's ability to corrupt, no less than through private conversations with the man she compelled to resign, the Ducissa moved quickly to introduce change she had for years thought necessary, before power could make her think twice. Spending her first years decreeing freedoms in an attempt to undo some of the damage of her predecessor, she had moved to ban discrimination based on sex across the island by the end of 15 PC. Providing similar protections to other groups she deemed to be victims of the uncaring ruling aristocracy, she legalized homosexuality in 19 PC, before fully banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in 21 PC. Symbolically placing La Libertà into print in a public event, (the text was for years legalized with Dux Falcone's rise to power) she had declared that the state-owned printing presses are to be allowed for public reproduction of written material, even if politically controversial (using La Libertà as an example), as long as it should it not break laws surrounding discrimination of protected groups, or cause great societal harm.
Finding the previous Dux's tight hold on the island's industries authoritarian and inefficient, in an age that was once more threatened by the conditions that previously led to La Denunzia, she found a strong need for reforms to the island's economy. Although overall GDP had fallen during the reign of Dux Falcone, his policies of wealth redistribution led to a sharp rise in the median GDP per capita, indicating an improvement in most people's lives. Over the years, however, the rise started to show signs of plateauing, and possible downturn in the following years. In an attempt to revitalize the island, without fully breaking with the ideas of La Libertà, she saw a limited need to return to the system of old. In the first of her reforms towards a freer marked, the nation was seen officially breaking away from the silver standard in 20 PC, the Ducissa announced that the argotto's exchange with silver will no longer be kept at constant levels.
Although keeping a hold over the most essential industries, the Ducissa had chosen to place nationalized companies back into private hands, accepting buyout bids. Under pressure, she returned some industries previously owned by the Six Families to their formal owners, while exercising great care not to once again produce an oligopolistic state of affairs. Breaking up the companies across thousands of owners, the money received was in turn used to various forms of welfare, such as subsidized education and healthcare, making sure that any inequality created by privatization would be offset by programs that aimed at its reduction.
| Election | Votes | Votes (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 PC | 2,604,781 | 64.6% |
| 17 PC | 2,821,182 | 71.2% |
| 19 PC | 2,409,541 | 66.0% |
| 21 PC | 2,248,120 | 64.3% |
| 23 PC | 2,011,134 | 60.2% |
| 25 PC | 2,165,112 | 65.1% |
| 27 PC | 2,317,777 | 68.4% |
Death
Late in her final term, the 70-year-old DeGaio would suffer a severe hospitalization in late 28 PC due to respiratory failure. After a worrying diagnosis, she was recommended to be placed in hospice, to her refusal. Although choosing not to run in 29 PC, she chose to serve out the rest of her term, to decreasing confidence from her Advisors. With signs of worry concerning her rule already present in the previous years, and marks of economic downturn becoming more apparent, search of a new candidate began early amongst the Advisory council. Replaced by her Advisor Dario Silvano at the following elections, she would die in her home on 1-3, mere weeks after his coronation.