Ba'al

"Poor loser."

- Yu

Ba'al is a Goa'uld, and possibly the last of the System Lords.

Biography
First seen during the Second Goa'uld Dynasty, Ba'al was originally one of Ra's prominent underlords in service to him on Earth where he was though to be the son of El&mdash;who was, in actualiy, Ra&mdash;by the Canaanites. It was in this role that he oversaw many cultures' development of an agricultural system, the Canaanites and Phoenicians among them. Ba'al's influence spread throughout these cultures so much that he was known over the entire Mediterranean basin and, eventually, most of the planet.

He was rarely seen to be a kind overseer, however, and indeed whenever his people failed to meet his strict food production quotas he very often issued orders for the mass sacrifice of Human lives. Though these measures led to overall prosperity for both the Goa'uld and the people, it came at the expense of many people and so it perhaps came as no surprise that Ba'al was one of the first Goa'uld to encounter rebellion among his people, though it was to a much smaller scale than Ra's later comeuppance. A few smaller villages abandoned worshipping him and so, for their pride, Ba'al struck them down&mdash;it was these sort of actions that would later lead to his association with several Judeo-Christian figures, several identifying him as Ba'alzebub and believing him to serve Satan rather than Ra, though his loyalty remained true.



After the fall of the Second Goa'uld Dynasty, Ba'al was one of the first to foresee that the Tau'ri would one day rebel and so left the planet for the stars, earning him the wrath of his former master Ra, and causing him to be kicked out of the Sun God's inner circle. Despite this setback, Ba'al managed to maintain control of several Jaffa who had been loyal to Ra and so was able to carve out a small niche for himself within the ranks of the System Lords. Though not entirely loyal to Ba'al, these Jaffa served him out of fear of his wrath for, even though they knew that Ra's wrath on them would be terrible if he managed to defeat Ba'al, Ba'al presented a more immediate threat to them. In addition to this, Ba'al did not hesitate to make examples out of any who betrayed him to their former lord.

Following the full rebellion of the Tau'ri, Ra's attention was drawn to Ba'al whom he was able to defeat repeatedly until, in desperation, Ba'al turned to Sokar&mdash;ironically fulfilling that Tau'ri's belief that he was indeed Ba'alzebub, the agent of Satan. Having been well aware of Sokar's enmity towards Ra, Ba'al offered him a contingent of his Jaffa&mdash;several having in fact been servant of Ra himself at one point&mdash;to contend with Ra on the field of battle. Although Sokar's forces were more than sufficient to deal with Ra on their own, Ra's former forces provided a unique insight into the workings over their former lord's tactics and so proved extremely valuable to Sokar. In exchange for this help, Sokar took Ba'al under his wing for a time, aiding him in his struggle to survive against their mutual enemy.

This alliance stood for generations during which time Ba'al took advantage of Sokar's help, using both his own and his new "master's" forces to carve out a significant fiefdom among the planets of the Milky Way galaxy. Because many such gains were made with the help of Sokar's Jaffa, Sokar considered the territory to be his though he rarely pressed this issue and simply left Ba'al be, concentrating on his own war with Ra. Ba'al continued to pay tribute and give respect to Sokar for the course of his "servitude", as well as providing a buffer against Ra's forces with his ever-growing territory allowing Sokar to concentrate along a narrower frontier.

Ba'al could not hide his true intentions forever, though, gradually subverting the Jaffa that Sokar left him to the point that he commanded their true loyalty. He eventually became content that he would be able to contend with the forces of Ra without Sokar's aid, Ba'al broke off his servitude to Sokar and declared himself the sovereign ruler of his sector of space. Sokar immediately tried to recall his Jaffa from Ba'al's service but was met with no answer and so sent two of his fleets to reclaim the territory which he believed Ba'al had stolen from him. Having learned of his attack, Ba'al made a daring gambit; when Sokar's fleets arrived in two of the systems controlled by Ba'al, they were met with only two ha'tak's each. As Sokar's fleets closed in to attack the ships, Ba'al unleashed his plan and used the ha'tak's to cause the systems stars to go supernova, destroying everything nearby including themselves.

When the System Lords held a conference following the deaths of Apophis and Cronus, Ba'al seemed to function as first among equals, conducting the meeting. Upon learning that Anubis was alive, Ba'al was one of those who voted to restore him to the state of System Lord.

The Tok'ra had at least one operative, Kana, in Ba'al's service though, when Kanan was discovered as a spy, his host was damaged so badly that he had to seek another. When Kanan's symbiote was implanted in Jack O'Neill, he went back to Ba'al's fortress world in order to save Ba'al lo'tar who he had become involved with. Ba'al's Jaffa were able to capture O'Neill before he was able to finish his mission, however, though Kanan left him so that Ba'al could not retrieve the information of the Tok'ra from him. Ba'al tortured O'Neill endlessly, killing him many times and bringing him back to life in order to gain the information that Kanan had left in his mind. However, when SG-1 informed Yu that Ba'al had been conducting weapons research on the planet, he sent a fleet which destroyed the facility and thus freeing O'Neill.

After Yu's powers began to fail him, Ba'al emerged as the leader of the United Alliance of System Lords, the remaining System Lords dedicated to the defeat of Anubis.

After the fall of Anubis, Ba'al took over most of Anubis' former holdings, including the Kull, become the most powerful of the System Lords. Within a year, the System Lords had been reduced to three others, all unable to fight him. At this point, Baal began to style himself Supreme Commander of the Goa'uld Empire. Secretly, however, he was serving Anubis. Ba'al's power was broken when the Jaffa Rebellion took Dakara.

Ba'al fled to Earth, setting himself up as a business man and taking control of the Trust, at the same time using Asgard cloning technology to make a series of clones of himself. He also made attempts to take control of the Free Jaffa Nation and stole Stargates from other planets to rebuild his empire.

Eventually, Ba'al learned of the Sangraal, and what it was capable of. Desiring a weapon that could neutralize both the Ancients and the Ori, Baal used his clones to gain access to the SGC, and stole the list of gate address to from the Ancient's repository of knowledge. He eventually found the planet the Sangraal was on, but was forced to work with SG-1 and Adria to locate it.

Related
Abydos, Eye of Ra, Langara