[thoroughburro]

I use a MicroOS + wayland + sway and friends setup, since I don’t like big DEs. I completely agree with you about needing a firewall, but it was an easy fix to continue taking advantage of all the good parts:

    sudo transactional-update shell
    zypper in firewalld
    [setup as you like]
    exit
    sudo reboot

Now you have MicroOS or Aeon as you like it. It’s a discouraged practice, but if you stick to the default repos and well-used packages, you can definitely tweak the opinionated defaults without compromising the vision.