Sapien Sunrise

Sapien Sunrise's logo

"Peace with hinge-heads is treason."

— Propaganda from Sapien Sunrise^[1]

Sapien Sunrise (SS) is a xenophobic human extremist organization prominent in the Outer Colonies, following the Human-Covenant War.^[1] By 2558, Sapien Sunrise had access to military hardware and were beginning to use terrorist tactics.^[2]

History[edit]

Sapien Sunrise propaganda posters on Biko

In 2558, Outer Colonies ambassador Richard Sekibo was considered a traitor by Sapien Sunrise^[1] for organizing and hosting a peace conference with a Sangheili kaidon and his clan on the reterraformed Biko.^[2] The organization posted xenophobic propaganda-laden posters on the walls of buildings on Biko that reminded people that the planet had been attacked and glassed by the same species in 2526.^[1] Sapien Sunrise had threatened the Biko embassy for months before the conference even occurred.^[2] The Office of Naval Intelligence thought little of the organization.^[1]

Meanwhile, Sapien Sunrise infiltrated Sekibo's delegation, with the intent to assassinate the human and Sangheili ambassadors and blame it on the Sangheili. Sekibo uncovered evidence of the terrorist plot by Sapien Sunrise one week before the attack, though he learned only a limited degree of the plot's details. Sekibo petitioned the UEG Senate for aid, but they rejected his request immediately. Sekibo continued to peace talk conference nonetheless. By the day of the peace conference, nine members of Sapien Sunrise managed to disguise themselves as Richard Sekibo's personal bodyguard, four civilians, and four security guards of the UEG delegates. The rogue Spartan-II Blue Team learned of the assassination plot and arrived at Biko moments before the attack could commence. Spartan John-117 entered the embassy and killed Sekibo's "bodyguard". A firefight ensued as the Spartan escorted the mortally wounded Sekibo and the surviving Sangheili diplomats to safety. John killed all nine Sapien Sunrise infiltrators, while ten other security personnel and three Sangheili were also killed in the engagement. John and the Sangheili escaped Biko on Blue Team's ship, while Sekibo died and his body was left behind in a field. The Biko government and the UEG covered up the incident; John was blamed for attacking "innocent" security guards and killing Sekibo. Sapien Sunrise's involvement was soon realized by investigators, but the information was hidden by the UEG from the public.^[2]

As Benjamin Giraud prepared to go public with the truth about the SPARTAN-II program and the Master Chief, the UEG and Biko suddenly reversed course and revealed that Sapien Sunrise was behind the attack, clearing the Master Chief and the Sangheili of any wrongdoing. Ben called it a "classic ONI half-truth" and that Sapien couldn't have pulled it off without the UEG who had rejected Sekibo's requests for help, calling it "arrogant negligence." Sapien Sunrise implicated FERO as the arms dealer who supplied them with the weapons used in the embassy massacre, and ONI framed Ben as FERO.^[3]

During the Carrow Conflict later in 2558, Melody Azikiwe reasoned that Sapien Sunrise (alongside the New Colonial Alliance) were likely culprits for the supply of military hardware to the Surakan Militia, owing to the continued tensions on Carrow between the human settlers and Sangheili refugees on the planet.^[4]

Beliefs and views[edit]

"The Sapien Sunrise believed that species integration was destroying civilization. Humans pure, aliens bad; that sort of thing."

— Journalist Benjamin Giraud^[1]

The group is opposed to peace and alliances with the former Covenant client races, particularly the Sangheili. Holding the alien races responsible for the deaths of billions during the Human-Covenant War, the organization believes that the Unified Earth Government's peace with the Sangheili is treason.^[1] Members of Sapien Sunrise believe that humanity is pure and that species integration would destroy civilization.^[2] Believing that humanity was single-handedly responsible for winning the Covenant War, they were convinced that humanity should not "surrender" themselves to the Sangheili by forming alliances like that with the Swords of Sanghelios.^[1]

Production notes[edit]

Twitter account[edit]

In June 2015, an official Twitter account (@SapienSunrise) for Sapien Sunrise was created as part of the wider alternate reality game component to Hunt the Truth. This coincided with the release of Hunt the Truth Episode 10: Gag Order and its associated blog posts, in which the organisation are prominently featured.^[5] Later, similar, accounts were made during Hunt the Truth for the Triad cult and a number of shell accounts to represent Ben Giraud himself.

The Twitter account posted several anti-Sangheili propaganda posters, with notable Halo community figures including HaloFollower,^[6] Chief Canuck,^[7] and Podcast Evolved given posters to share on their own social media^[8] - which the @SapienSunrise account promptly reposted. Similar posters were later posted on other wider Xbox and Halo social media accounts.

During its short lifespan, the account changed its profile picture and banner a few times. After the end of Season 1 of Hunt the Truth, the @SapienSunrise ARG account was taken over by the Office of Naval Intelligence - corresponding with the events depicted in Episode 13: In the Bag, in which Ben Giraud is framed as a Sapien Sunrise terrorist. After the account hijack, the SapienSunrise profile picture and banner were replaced with ONI logos and the following message:

“

This account has been seized by the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence in accordance with protocol and a warrant obtained by the United Nations Space Command, Sydney, Commonwealth of Australia - Earth.

All content, information, and messages posted to, posted by, sent to, or sent by this account are now the property of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence and may be used in pre-existing, ongoing, and future investigations.

All persons contacted by, associated with, or soliciting contact with this account may be investigated in relation to or as accomplices to criminal activity in investigations related to this account and its associated entities.

PURSUANT TO UNSC 12.155.12.1, 12.155.12.6, 163.65.2.111^[9]

”

Since this, the account has remained inactive. The images from it are archived in the gallery below.

Gallery[edit]

Twitter handle images[edit]

Avatar used by one of their associates.
Avatar used by one of their associates.
Banner used by their main profile.
Banner used by one of their associates.

Posters[edit]

"I had to give it to them – for a group of terrorists, they had a good marketing department"

— Benjamin Giraud^[10]

Several propaganda signs have been posted on Twitter and Tumblr by a role play account. Among them are propaganda referring to the Battle of Biko, negative views on Richard Sekibo, inference that species integration threatens human life, as well as several others shown below.