Baal is the homeworld of the Blood Angels, a radiation-blasted death world in the Ultima Segmentum where the Chapter’s fortress-monastery, Arx Angelicum, sits. It’s one of the most important worlds in Imperium Nihilus, and the target of a huge tyranid assault in the 41st millennium.
What Baal actually is
Baal is a death world and Adeptus Astartes homeworld, so it pays no Imperial tithe. It’s the seat of the Blood Angels, and its fortress-monastery, Arx Angelicum, is the Chapter’s main base.
Before humanity ever reached it, Baal was home to an unknown xenos race. Millennia before the Imperium existed, viral and nuclear weapons turned Baal and its two moons into toxic wastelands. The survivors became scavengers, fighting over whatever they could find.
- Segmentum: Ultima Segmentum
- System: Baal System
- Class: Adeptus Astartes homeworld, death world
- Tithe grade: Adeptus Non
- Pre-Devastation population: around 122,000
- Affiliation: Imperium (Blood Angels)
Sanguinius and the Great Crusade
By the time Sanguinius arrived, Baal was dominated by a tribe called The Blood and by mutant hordes. He defeated the mutants and put The Blood on top, then brought the world into the Imperium during the Great Crusade.
At Sanguinius’s invitation, the Mechanicum of Anvillus rebuilt the empty, rad-scoured world into a manufacturing site that rivalled smaller Forge Worlds. It supplied much of the IXth Legion’s munitions and technical needs. A standing guard was kept there, mostly the Crimson Paladins, with at least one company usually present for refit.
War comes to Baal
During the Horus Heresy, Baal became a loyalist hub under Warden Arkhad. Members of the Shattered Legions took refuge there, and the world endured a long siege by traitor forces.
In 798.M41, the Ork Warlord Big Skorcha tried to invade and the Blood Angels threw him back. In 999.M41, Hive Fleet Leviathan came for Baal instead. After the Thirteenth Black Crusade and the formation of the Great Rift, Baal was cut off from the wider Imperium and became a key world of Imperium Nihilus.
The golden angel and the angel of darkness
Baal’s old xenos inhabitants were touched by the Warp and worshipped a golden angel locked in eternal struggle with an angel of darkness. Humanity replaced them and inherited the same influence.
The idea goes that every time a son of Baal protects the innocent, the Golden Angel grows stronger. Every time one falls to the Black Rage, the Angel of Darkness does. When humanity is gone from the galaxy, another race is expected to take their place.
Key facts
- Baal is a death world and the Blood Angels’ homeworld in the Ultima Segmentum.
- Its fortress-monastery is called Arx Angelicum.
- It was ruined by ancient viral and nuclear weapons millennia before the Imperium.
- Sanguinius united its tribes and brought it into the Imperium during the Great Crusade.
- It survived Ork and tyranid invasions, and became a key world of Imperium Nihilus after the Great Rift.
FAQ
What is Baal in Warhammer 40k?
Baal is the Blood Angels’ homeworld, a death world in the Ultima Segmentum. It holds Arx Angelicum, the Chapter’s fortress-monastery, and it’s a key world of Imperium Nihilus.
Why is Baal important?
It’s the Blood Angels’ base of operations and their recruiting world. It also survived a massive tyranid assault by Hive Fleet Leviathan, an event known as the Devastation of Baal.
What happened to Baal?
The world was wrecked long before the Imperium by viral and nuclear war, then rebuilt by the Mechanicum. In 999.M41 it came under attack from Hive Fleet Leviathan, and after the Great Rift opened it was cut off from the wider Imperium.