Arcane plotlines / Fissures, illness & mines
One of the most disjointed narrative lines in Arcane is the air and the mines in the fissures. So I guess season 2 setup? Or is it window dressing? Because nearly every character is connected to it
This is not first time fissures are mentioned but Silco's story is most put together so I'll start with that. And I think it connects to reasons for rebellion he and Vander wanted to do against Piltover.
So Silco came from the mines., Vander did too (Sevika maybe didn't? she needs breathing aid). This must have been the economic situation in the undercity pre-rebellion. We know that since Vander even had hanged the mining gloves in Last Drop. But the chembarons can't handle the air.
Look at the glee of this self made working-class man, Silco is an aspirational figure some of the time. I'd be Silco.
So since Powder's and Vi's parents joined the rebellion, they must have been in similar circumstances to Vander & Silco, right?
Then there is the disaster man himself, Jayce and his not-sister's not-girlfriend. Which is first mention of fissure mining and the story starts like this:
Ah, the good old times right? I really wonder if 'mining colonies' is not like idyllic version going around Piltover of what was happening, looking at Silco, Vander & Vi's parents all deciding to rebel against their city-state. Vi and Powder probably don't remember it thou. But good old days Arcane wise. Everything seemed so simple.
It continues like this: I'm not sure Jayce has right idea where Viktor's illness comes from 'coz I don't trust Jayce asks people before jumping to conclusions.
and that's how it ends. And one maybe small thing - both of them can kind of breath there. So maybe the air has improved. Maybe not? I think this is also the moment the idea how 'mining colonies' work dies alongside the Hextech dream plans. And Piltover's idea of Progress. If I assume correctly 'Snakes' is Jayce's pov/context song.
Then there is connecting piece in council archives because I think Council Archives are for now accessible only till time they're introduced. So aside from Jayce's, all of them cover the time skip.
For Caitlyn, it's infuriatingly all from time she's still an enforcer - so she believes enforcers are good and right. So we can't trust her notes. But it's the In Plain Sight chapter.
It starts with a young girl missing from Zaun report to the enforcers.
NAME: ██████████
SEX: FEMALE
DOB: █████
HEIGHT: SHORT
WEIGHT: THIN
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLONDE
[Edit: And since the name must be a spoiler, the only young girl in LoL Lore that matches that description is Amaranthine from Jayce's short story - since we know it's more popular in Zaun to name children after colours or terms: Sky, Powder Blue, Violet, etc. - so Amaranthine could fit right in. Caitlyn's "The Grand Conspiracy" everyone, it's real. We're going there in this post LoL Lore and Arcane are same universe, most PvZ LoL Lore bios (+ short stories w/o author or not in 1st person) = Arcane - Council Archives that is censorship so Piltover keeps being the city of Progress. You play as the archivist exploring The council archives, and at the end this is your message 'But alas, our ongoing efforts to protect Piltover must be kept secret. There are those that wish to destroy the very foundations that make our city of progress, well... progress!'. Yes... I probably sound just as insane as Caitlyn to Jayce.]
Anyway, on saner plain of mind, a lot of files are written by Marcus, so even more confusing since he covers up stuff. But most importantly these 3 pieces. It's about a hospital - of sorts. I'll colour what imo. is important:
REJECTED BY ORDER OF CAPTAIN MARCUS ██████████PILTOVER ENFORCER DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Abduction Ring in the Undercity
On ██████, a Piltover enforcer on a routine patrol was alerted to strange noises coming from the sewage tracks running between the Fissures and the streets above. Backup was deemed unnecessary, and the enforcer proceeded to investigate the disturbances.
Entering the pipes, the enforcer followed the noise - a sort of mechanical whirring (ADD THAT HE HEARD CRYING, TOO). The enforcer gave a verbal warning that he was marching forward. There was no response.
The enforcer continued deeper down into the lanes. They reached a wall obstructed by a large metal gate. The enforcer brute-forced the gate open and proceeded down a dark passage in the waste-management system.
Some time down the path, the enforcer was alerted to a bright light coming through a crack in the wall. Moving several bricks aside, they entered into what appeared to be a make-shift hospital.
In the hospital, several children were sat at (CHANGE TO STRAPPED TO) beds and hooked up to machinery. Syringes at the arms, legs, and neck injected a greyish-green liquid into their squirming bodies. At this time, the Piltover Enforcers suspect that the children were part of scientific experiments.
Upon safe return to Piltover, one child was identified as ██████████, a missing child reported over a month ago. They were reunited with their mother, a citizen of Zaun. The other children have yet to be identified.
The illegal operation has been shutdown and all equipment confiscated for examination by Piltover Enforcement. Any potential leads should be reported to authorities.
So firstly this is the rejected version of Piltover Press release, was it silenced by Marcus forever or just rewritten to be published, we don't know. We also - from the edits - can't be sure if the story was already changed. We know that enforcers usually make very grand claims about resourcefulness and bravery on their part from the funeral of dead enforcer's scene with Marcus. So how the enforcer stumbled upon it, we don't know - seems implausible.
Were the children there voluntarily?
Why was it shutdown?
How did the officer just stumble on the hospital? Tipped off?
WHO IS RUNNING THE OPERATION?!
The second piece comes from what allegedly was happening from child that was admitted to the 'hospital', interviewed by the enforcer (but we should already know from Viktor's lore that children aren't best witnesses):
LOCATION: OFFICE OF PILTOVER ENFORCEMENT
PURSUANT TO CASE #4435
(...)
ENFORCER Good. If you cooperate with the enforcers, that's how we can help you.
BGWI know.
ENFORCER You seem like a smart kid.
ENFORCER Start at the beginning.
BGW I have trouble breathing. A lot of kids in the Fissures do.
BGW They, um, they offered me a chance to be healthier.
ENFORCER ██████████
BGW ██████████
ENFORCER ██████████
BGW ██████████
BGW *coughing*
ENFORCER So you're saying that they lied?
ENFORCER The chemicals… What did they do?
BGW I don't know.
ENFORCER Was it shimmer?
BGW Not like any shimmer I'd seen before.
ENFORCER How was it different?
BGW It powered their machines.
ENFORCER These illegal experiments.
BGW...Yes.
ENFORCER And did you ever catch a glimpse of who was running things?
BGW She wore a suit-
UNKNOWN Officer, stop the recording.
I think the unknown voice is Marcus who recognises it's Renni. But that in a second.
The 'not shimmer' shimmer can only be either still in development chemtech or the 'orange substance' that is also in Jinx's weapons. But I think the orange one is the variant of shimmer that Singed developed later for Warwick (since there are more than one). Chemtech seems to be powering machines like the suits in the mines and firelights' boards. Can't wait to see if it's a moral issue for Ekko that he chose chemtech over shimmer, not knowing that's how it was 'developed'.
Then we also get that many children in the fissures develop breathing problems, which loops back to Viktor. And they may agree to for example very unfortunate experiments to alleviate those health issues from very shady 'hospitals'.
If anyone ever doubted why Hexcore "healing magic" may be actually important to the plot and not only Viktor's one man quest to heal himself. I'm pretty sure that story-plotline would look much different if the technology development was happening in Zaun.
Unless these illegal hospital experiments are something Viktor was involved, which idk - maybe? One never knows, the archive for now is redacted. That's the thing - since Marcus is the person compiling that file, we can't be sure if it's not ie. some errant organisation or a hospital run by firelights. But much more probable that Marcus was gathering dirt on all of the undercity's chembarons - just like he kept Vi in prison just in case. A security.
Anyway, then there's connecting 'evidence':
And this suit looks eerily familiar to one from Jayce and Vi fight, but the second piece of evidence has note it was manufactured for Renni. Which would make sense since her child was a "shift overseer" - mask and all. Family business (no that doesn't make his death better, lol, just everyone has to work in Zaun).
But that may mean it wasn't a shimmer mine, shimmer was there to give children strength to do 'chemtech' mining. Maybe? Like with Jayce and Vi - it's the issue of blind leading blind. He was in the undercity last time around the same time as Vi. It was probably Renni's mine, not Silco's.
[Edit: I forgot to add what started this whole post - Caityn's LoL Lore bio since I was playing with Caitlyn's "The Grand Conspiracy" theory - the truth staring her in the face. From bio:
In just a few years, she made a name for herself as someone who could help with matters mundane and… more esoteric. After a particularly traumatic case involving a missing hextech device and a series of child abductions, Caitlyn was summoned by the Wardens.
She had been recommended by one of their number who had also developed something of an affinity for stranger cases—and their battle with a host of rogue chimerics in the employ of a lunatic chem-researcher driven mad by his own concoctions led to her being offered a formal position as a sheriff. ]
That must be Jinx' one time or the other stealing stuff from Jayce's lab and the other must be the case In plain sight. Which made me think this case must be connected to some wider plot - and since she ends up as a sheriff at the very end - makes it feel suspicious in the light of Arcane. Yep, I don't blame Jayce calling it "The Grand Conspiracy".
Anyway, now much more of conjecture link, from Powder's journal of what happened to all the children at the hospital that someone didn't issue 'Missing person' report. Or the one that did.
Lined up all the little duckies in a row
Why did they look so sad?
They'll be together after
I'm really not sure if that's connected, but seems like some sorts of cover-up. Either for 'hospital' children or the one that had family that could start spreading rumours in the undercity about the 'hospital' experiments. Anyway something Jinx witnessed and drew in that timeskip span.
So now the last bits and pieces, Viktor:
Who most probably has the same issue as the child interviewed by the enforcers, from the 'hospital', because he grew up in fissures. Maybe, that's the root of his illness - if that's information they spoke about with Jayce it was infuriatingly in that timeskip part which Jayce's journal doesn't cover since it was published before timeskip.
And then finally this connected part maybe:
It kind of points that Singed's daughter he speaks to Silco about when Jinx may die, and for which he most probably started research into Shimmer for, is Orianna (as resemblance in the locket). Since this poor girl had to undergo a lot of painful surgeries and augments, which shimmer would allow to survive. And Orianna in lore:
News of disaster in the undercity of Zaun made its way to their shop. An explosion had ruptured a chemical line, venting clouds of poisonous gas. Orianna insisted they help the victims, but Corin forbade it. Zaun was far too dangerous.
So, with as many supplies as she could carry, Orianna snuck away in the night and rode the hexdraulic descender into the depths.
The devastation was overwhelming. Debris still filled the streets, and Zaunites walked through the toxic haze, faces covered with little more than oily rags. Night after night, Orianna repaired respirators and installed esophilters. She even gave her own mask to a child who could scarcely breathe.
Her father was furious, but soon after her return, Orianna fell gravely ill. Her lungs were ravaged past all hope of recovery. Refusing to accept this, Corin threw himself into his most ambitious project yet: a fully functional set of artificial lungs
Which if it is Orianna, it will be very interesting, because that Piltovian girl went to help people in the undercity and died for it in a manner of speaking. That is why congregation of the 'Gloriously evolved' is aligned with the Grey Lady - matching Orianna's new body appearance.
And him and Orianna both working on body augments trying to save her life, would be the thing against Piltover's ethos that Singed parted ways with Heimerdinger for.
And probably how he crossed pathways with Silco.
Singed why you speak in riddles, if it's 'love & legacy' vs 'Progress', then if your daughter is Orianna - you're the 'love & legacy' part of the equation, and you weren't ready to sacrifice that for Progress. Between you and Heimerdinger that is. Is that your issue with Piltover? They were unhappy with you not letting your daughter waste away due to chemspill in the undercity? Was you both trying to save her against ethos too? Is that how you ended up in Zaun, saving all random daughters like Jinx and Vi with your shimmer invention?
That would be a funny twist, wouldn't it?
Anyway, a lot of disjointed plot along most characters is connected to this few points - mines, fissures, lung illness caused by pollution. And I guess all of that was somehow connected to the first rebellion we see.
Also mandatory, hexcore is evil and under any circumstances shouldn't be researched. Heimerdinger said so.
“Piltover the land of progress, equality, innovation.”
What did you do that your own people rebelled against you?
Edit: Continuation of this theory:
Arcane plotlines / Shimmer & Chemtech - Zaun’s national exports
Arcane Symbols of change / Firelights, Crow, Butterfly and the “Bastion of Enlightenment” that is beacon to all the Moths
Is this plotline why we don't have Caitlyn and Viktor talking to each other whole season? or why Caitlyn and Vi separate because Cait would know it's Renni's mine?
Other posts by me - Arcane meta analysis posts - mostly politics, tech and character parallels
How the fuck am I supposed to tag this, that's most of the cast.
