General Borna Kulas (1888–1972) was a Kresimirian military officer, industrialist, and third Chief State Councillor of the Council for Internal Affairs between 1955 and 1961. A veteran of the Unification War, he exerted immense influence over the Republic’s security and industrial sectors for nearly half a century.
Kulas is best remembered as the architect of the “Iron Era”. As Chief State Councillor, he executed the Great Purge of 1955 and militarized the nation’s police forces in a failed attempt to crush the Bosken insurgency through brute force. Prior to his time in government, he spent two decades as the Chairman of Otonik Ordnance, where he oversaw the re-arming of the Kresimirian military.
Early Life and Military Career
Born in 1888 in a garrison town near Sinj, Kulas was educated at the prestigious University of Dubica-Viskogorje. He reportedly shared several classes there with Dominik Loncar, future Divine Founder, Councillor for War, and leader of Vjetrusa.
During the Kresimirian Unification War (1918–1921), he served as a field commander under General Dominik Loncar. Kulas gained a reputation for ruthlessness during the Siege of Ravna Skrad, where his artillery units played a decisive role in breaking the Confederacy lines. Following the war, he remained in the Kresimirian Army, rising to the rank of General and serving as a key advisor to the Council for Defence.
The Industrialist (1934–1955)
In 1934, Kulas retired from active military duty to accept the position of Chairman at Otonik Ordnance, the state-chartered arms monopoly in Novi Otonik.
His tenure as Chairman transformed the company. Leveraging his connections in the Council for Defence, he secured massive state contracts that fueled the company’s expansion. His crowning achievement was overseeing the development and initial production of the Kres-55 service rifle. Kulas argued that the Republic needed a domestically produced, standardized weapon to maintain its sovereignty.
Chief State Councillor (1955–1961)
The political landscape shifted violently in 1954 with the assassination of Kresimir Basic. Chancellor Kresimir Kresimirovic II, convinced that the civilian intelligence services had become soft and incompetent, fired the incumbent Chief State Councillor, Petar Zima.
Seeking a figure of unquestionable authority and ruthlessness, the Chancellor appointed Borna Kulas to head the Council for Internal Affairs in January 1955.
The Great Purge and the Iron Era
Kulas immediately initiated the Great Purge. He fired the entire upper echelon of the CIA’s intelligence directorate, replacing career spies with military officers loyal to the Chancellory. Under his command, the Civil Order Force was transformed from a police service into a paramilitary occupation force.
He implemented the “Iron Strategy” in District X:
- Total Blockade: Severe restrictions on movement in and out of the district.
- Collective Punishment: The arrest of family members of suspected BRC-21 militants.
- Information Blackout: Strict censorship of the press regarding security failures.
Despite these draconian measures, Kulas failed to stop the insurgency. His aggressive tactics radicalized the Bosken population, leading directly to the escalation of violence that culminated in the 1960 Bombing of Karlovac University.
Resignation and Death
The Karlovac bombing was a fatal blow to Kulas’s doctrine of “Security through Strength.” When Chancellor Kresimirovic III and Blue Dawn leader Leon Rukavin opened secret negotiations with BRC-21 in late 1960, Kulas was marginalized.
When the Treaty of Brod Moravice was signed in July 1961, Kulas resigned in protest. In his resignation letter, he famously wrote: “I will not command a force that is ordered to protect terrorists in the halls of our own Assembly.”
He retired to his estate in Viskogorje, where he spent his final years writing commentaries for Vjetrusa pamphlets, warning that the peace treaty would lead to the dissolution of the Republic. He died in 1972 at the age of 84.
Legacy
Borna Kulas is a polarizing figure. To Kresimirian hardliners, he is a patriot who understood that the state can only be preserved through force. To liberals and the Bosken community, he is the symbol of state oppression, responsible for the darkest period of civil rights abuses in the nation’s history. His restructuring of the CIA left a lasting mark, ensuring the agency retained a military character long after his departure.