Blood Angels - Chapter Homeworld: The Blood Angels are shaped not only by the personality and deeds of Sanguinius, but also by the nature of their Chapter planet, Baal. Few worlds in the entire Imperium could have as devastating an impact on the Human soul as Baal and its inhabited moons: Baal Prime and Baal Secundus.In ancient days Baal and its moons had Earth-like atmospheres. Baal itself was a world of rust-red deserts but its moons were paradises for mortal men, where folk lived in harmony with nature and pursued lives of ease and freedom. The people of Baal became exceptional artisans, and spent their time creating mighty monuments, carving the mountains themselves into statues of their rulers and their gods. They even ventured onto the surface of desolate Baal itself leaving colonies and breathtaking edifices in their wake.No one knows exactly what happened to change this idyllic state of affairs. All that is certain is that during the fearful events that marked the downfall of Human society and the end of the Dark Age of Technology, the moons of Baal suffered terribly. Ancient weapons of mass destruction of terrifying potency were unleashed. Cities became plains of smouldering glass. Lush grasslands became polluted deserts. Seas became poisoned lakes of toxic sludge.The people of Baal died in their millions and it looked as if Humanity might become extinct in the Baal System. But somehow people survived. They clung precariously to life on the edges of the radioactive deserts. They became scavengers, picking through the scattered bones of their own once-great civilisation. In the dark time that followed the collapse of all order, some became worse than scavengers, and in their desperation turned to cannibalism.Over the course of the following centuries, the accumulated chemical and radioactive toxins that built up in the survivors' bodies led to them devolving into mutants, shambling parodies of the people their forefathers had once been. There were some who held on to their Humanity and preserved a semblance of sane behaviour, but these were the embattled few amongst a new and savage culture that evolved amid the ruins of the old.The only social unit left was the tribe. For Human and mutant cannibal alike, the only folk they could rely upon were their own kin. The people of the Baal System became nomads, shifting from place to place, picking the ruins clean, warring to preserve the spoils they had gathered. The tribes fought constant wars, webs of alliances shifting constantly as each tribe strove for supremacy and survival. Extinction awaited the slow and the weak.Where once the moons had been near-paradise, now they were living hells. For the few surviving baseline Humans, existence was a constant struggle. They wandered the surface in ramshackle vehicles, hoping that their patched-together radiation suits would save them, praying they would never hear the ominous tell-tale click of their rad-counters. For a time it seemed that Humanity was doomed, that soon there would only be an endless desert ruled over by the feuding mutant tribes. Then, out of the star-strewn heavens, came hope -- the winged primarch Sanguinius.As Sanguinius quickly grew to maturity at an advanced rate, he soon rose to leadership of the tribe known as The Blood, and under his guidance they rolled back the mutant tide. Eventually the Emperor of Mankind came to Baal, as He sought out His missing gene-sons who had been stolen from Him by the Ruinous Powers. Some amongst the primarchs are said to have fought against the Emperor when first they met but this was not the case with Sanguinius. He immediately recognised the Emperor for who He was and bent his knee before the Master of Mankind.The Emperor raised him up and looked upon his people and saw that they were fair and noble despite the genetic diseases and mutations that brought so many low at young ages. The best of the warriors He offered to transform into Space Marines. The others were to be honourably left behind to defend Mankind's birthright upon Baal Secundus.The mighty fortress-monastery of the Blood Angels, the Arx Angelicum, was built on the world of Baal, and since the time of Sanguinius, the Blood Angels have continued to recruit from among the tribes of The Blood on Baal Secundus and Baal Prime (where a colony was established shortly after the time of the Horus Heresy).