The city of Angelica is a city located on Guadalupe Island, an island in the Gulf of California. Due to an oversight in the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the island falls outside the jurisdiction of both the United States and Mexico. This has allowed the city of Angelica to flourish as a hub for various forms of criminal activity, catering to a wide assortment of potential clients.
History
With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of the First World War, much of Mexico's northern territory was ceded to the United States as punishment for their invasion. The terms of the treaty specifically granted "the peninsula of Baja, and all territory of mainland Mexico north of the 24th Parallel (North)" to the United States, and held that "all territory formerly belonging to Mexico, except for that which exists on the peninsula of Baja, south of the 24th Parallel (North)" is to remain Mexico. Omitted from these descriptions is a number of islands north of the 24th Parallel, with Guadalupe Island among the largest. As none of the islands were considered valuable enough to justify prolonging discussions on the treaty, the islands were considered extranational and largely ignored.
During the Second World War, Guadalupe Island was utilized as a fallback point and potential staging ground for Allied troops fighting in the American Theater. A number of bases were built on the island, with the majority intended to be used in the event Mexican forces were able to capture and hold the Baja peninsula. Following the end of the Second World War, all military bases on Guadalupe Island were decommissioned.
Founding
On March 31st, 1987, billionaire Alfred Robert Godwinson hired a number of contracting firms to begin a large-scale construction project on Guadalupe Island. As the island didn't belong to any government, Godwinson created the Guadalupe Provisional Government to oversee the island, with himself as President. The large-scale construction project on the island was intended to lay the groundwork for a city on the island named Angelica, named after a former employee of Godwinson whom he had pursued romantically for several years.
Once the city was sufficiently developed, Godwinson started inviting people to move to the island. Most of the people who accepted the offer were wealthy criminals who sought to use the island's status as an "independent nation" to shield themselves from US law enforcement. By 2005, the city of Angelica had become a haven for the unlawful, all bringing their wealth and influence to the island.
To shield the island from potential global intervention and maintain Angelica's profitability, Godwinson proposed a mutual defense agreement to the larger criminal organizations operating on the island. The agreement outlawed the more heinous forms of criminal activity when on the island, and encouraged each organization to establish permanent presences on the island. In exchange, Godwinson promised them representation and influence over the direction of the city and the island as a whole.
