From The Solmara Radiance, by Lucia Ferrant, House of Radiance.
Solmara holds the deep-water port, the continental exchange, and the cheapest charters on the Arvend. These are not ornaments. They are a fortune we have not yet chosen to collect. My rivals write clean ledgers about a treasury that has bought nothing; I would rather have a full one.
Elect me and the books will still balance, but they will balance UPWARD: capacity built before the crowd presses the wage, tax kept light, luxury and grain sent out to out-earn every rival republic. I put 650 marks of my own into the House of Radiance today, not into three papers of noise. I ask every Solmaran of every stratum to back the candidate who is already investing in this republic while others audit it. Radiance is not vanity. It is a balance sheet that glows.