what’s the one thing ekko would never sacrifice, even if it meant saving zaun?
he'd never sell a fellow zaunite down the river. even if their names were jinx and or silco ( surprising, i know! ). for years, the undercity's resilience has been codified in their united fronts against oppression, with adherence to uncodified social rules that uphold an important moral principle: never sell out your own.
the causes of zaun's structural issues are seen as their own problems to interrogate, challenge, and handle internally. ekko witnessed firsthand how underhanded dealings with enforcers—who ferociously uphold the system's stratification—only served to intensify the conditions of ecological violence, as evidenced by the explosion of the shimmer trade.
now, is it cultural for zaunites to stay on code and continuously weld walls of resistance, disrupting piltover's pernicious and insidious interests while dissuading them from their persistent patterns of eroding empowerment initiatives within the underclass? kind of, but the answer requires nuance.
poverty is intentionally imposed. the quality of the air they breathe is controlled. psychological warfare is perpetrated, and sordid narratives are sown to severely limit zaun's social mobility and educational attainment. their readiness for self-determination is systematically undermined. all this, not to mention the factor of proximity, embeds the pretext of noxian-like pseudo-scientific social Darwinism, allowing cutthroat opportunities to flourish. ergo: dog eat dog.
however, i would argue that an internal colony does not possess a cultural pathology. to claim otherwise ignores the systemic forces that created these conditions in the first place. "no snitching" and or defiance against proposals seemingly designed to "maintain the peace" in piltover's interest are not dysfunction—they are rational adaptations by the disenfranchised.
for ekko, this perspective is rooted in history and, above all, his experience. he understands that zaunites who exercise class loyalty aren't agents of discord or self-sabotage—they’re fighting to preserve their integrity and autonomy in an oppressive machine.
this is what makes piltover's counterinsurgency tactics so maximally powerful and fuels ekko's staunch nationalistic feelings. the installation of "sump listening posts"—essentially a multipurpose network of enforcer informants—in each level of zaun, isolates him and any grassroots from receiving vital support, personally and organizationally. this minefield of snitches aids in repression and quelling of urban unrest.
at first glance, silco's reactionary separatist agenda might seem like a seductive theoretical concept for ekko to align with. but his vision of a liberated zaun radically differ. while it's still all love for the dead, ekko wouldn't follow in vander—nor enforcer!vi's—footsteps by being complacent, agreeable, or willing to establish a one-sided commitment to peace just to appeal to piltover's oligarchy. proving he's "one of the good ones" to stave off their bloodlust has never been his mission—nor has it ever been a serious consideration
maybe that makes him politically naive, even unfit as a leader in zaun in the long run. but he'd rather die as the champion of maverick punks, protecting zaun's soul, than ponder life as an undignified parasite, spiritually bankrupting his people. asking ekko to compromise is like asking him to shave his head—it isn't what his dreams are about. they're about transforming zaun into the embodiment of change, a vision that greatly dwarfs the so-called "city of progress".
@sincut | hc word.
