Sanguine - the Blood Angel

Baal was a savage world, with a thick atmosphere of poisonous chemicals, rampant mutation, and deadly wildlife. Small groups of mutants waged war on each other, lead by warlords bent on conquest or bloodlust, life was cheap. To one of a warlord’s concubines, a female child was born. She was beautiful, devoid of any mutation, though covered with blood from a difficult birth. Her father named her Sanguine, bloody, which turned out to be more appropriate than he could know. Sanguine grew up to be a ferocious warrior, the most deadly of any of the tribes. Many of the mutants of Baal possessed psychic abilities, but none like Sanguine, she was a one woman army, could destroy foes with her mind, heal her wounds nearly instantly, and drive her followers into a wild frenzy of death and destruction. By the time she reached adulthood, she ruled most of the planet, and the mutants their looked upon her as a goddess.

In time, her powers grew even stronger. As more followers worshiped her, she gained strength from their worship and was able to do more perform more powerful feats. She learned that she could control her body and change her form, she grew huge wings like those of an angel, could grow her nails into razor sharp talons, and was vastly stronger and faster than any mortal. She could also control the bodies of followers as well, but only if they had recently consumed her blood. She then had an elite cadre of followers who she had given her blood too, who she had reshaped into models of physical perfection and enhanced the minds and bodies of. She particularly valued psykers as they had the most potential to grow in power and ability. As she became more and more powerful, she became more twisted and cruel as well, enjoying the thrill of power, pleasures of the flesh, killing and inflicting suffering on her foes. Sanguine was filled with the powers of Chaos and was fast approaching apotheosis, the transformation of a mortal into a daemon of Chaos.

It was on the eve of her transformation that the Emperor landed on Baal, feeling the presence of one of his children, feeling that something was going terribly wrong. The Emperor approached Sanguine reaching out to her with his mind, pushing back the influence of Chaos and allowing the goodness that still lingered in Sanguine’s heart to emerge. The Chaos gods fought the Emperor and he didn’t know if he could rest their influence away from Sanguine, though it was Sanguine herself, rediscovering her humanity and rejecting the forces of Chaos, that allowed she and the Emperor to cast out the influences of Chaos. When they were victorious, Sanguine was changed, less powerful but more in control of herself. She wept in shame for all of the evil actions she had committed and vowed to try to make amends for the suffering she had caused. Together, she and the Emperor helped to convert her followers away from the forces of Chaos, to open their hearts to goodness and light. That day, Sanguine pledged her loyalty to the Emperor and he promised to help heal the planet of Baal and bring peace and order to it.

From that day forth, Sanguine was one of the Emperor’s most loyal servants and developed a reputation for kindness among all of the Primarchs and the mortals who served beneath her. When she waged war, she did so with a kind heart, doing her best to minimize casualties even among the enemy and to spare civilians from the terrors of war. Many among the Primarchs looked down upon her, because of her strange mutations or unnatural psychic aura that still remained a part of her despite her redemption.

During the Heresy, both Aurelia and Magnus, those Primarchs who had been closest to her and the most tolerant of her peculiarities implored her to join with the rebellion, but she flatly refused, saying that her loyalty would always be to the Emperor who had saved her mind and soul. When the final battle was fought between Horus and the Emperor, she arrived to help the Emperor too late, he was already dying, his body and soul nearly destroyed by Horus and the powers of the Chaos gods that flowed through him. Sanguine flew into a mad rage, calling upon all of the powers she once commanded, letting the powers of Chaos flow through her blood, turning her from mortal into Daemon Primarch. She then through herself at Horus, who was already weakened from his fight with the Emperor. After an epic battle, she slew the traitor Warmaster, who seemed to have been abandoned by his gods.

After her victory, she came to her senses and realized what she had done, that she had given her soul to Chaos to avenge the Emperor. She was filled with shame and regret, but also with dark pleasure and satisfaction at destroying her enemy, the power flowing through her was intoxicating. She used her powers to flee into the immaterium and has never been seen since. Her followers, the Blood Angels who had imbibed her blood and shared her powers, were transformed as well. They became rage filled beings, with dark energy coursing through their veins. They fled back to Baal, seeking to hide their terrible transformation from their loyalist allies. Following the teachings of the mistress, the Blood Angels still uphold their oaths of loyalty towards the Imperium and strive to suppress their terrible inhuman natures. The Imperium calls upon the aid of the Blood Angels infrequently, frightened by their strange powers and dark auras.