Kresimir Basic (1883–1954) was a Kresimirian Diviner, a Divine Founder of the Republic, and the founder of the hardline religious nationalist party, the Sons of Kresimir (SoK). A powerful and uncompromising orator, he was a dominant figure in the Assembly for thirty years, serving as the primary voice for a militaristic and theocratic approach to national unity. He was assassinated by BRC-21 two years after his retirement from politics.
Early Life and Priesthood
Born in the city of Kromine in Decelska, Basic was raised in a deeply religious household. He enrolled at Karlovac University, graduating with a degree in Divinity in 1902 and becoming an ordained Diviner at the age of 19.
As a young preacher, he quickly gained a reputation for his fiery, nationalistic sermons, which often condemned what he called the “corrupting influence” of the Pravoslavic Faith from the neighboring region of Moraviskameja. During the Kresimirian Unification War, Basic was a vital spiritual leader for the Centralist Faction, authoring influential pamphlets and providing the theological justification for a unified Kresimirian state under one faith. His ideological contributions earned him a place as one of the six founding members of the Revolutionary People’s Council in 1918.
Basic delivering a sermon in 1923
Political Career
In the 1922 election, Basic was elected as a Senator for his home district of Decelska under the banner of the dominant Revolutionary People’s Party (RPP), led by his close ally Filip Novak.
The Founding of the Sons of Kresimir
The alliance with Novak shattered in 1924 following the assassination of Senator Ivana Simuna. While Novak pursued a political solution through a constitutional amendment and a special election, Basic viewed this as a sign of weakness. He publicly demanded a massive military crackdown, proposing a “Resolution of Pacification” in the Assembly to impose martial law in Moraviskameja. When Novak and the RPP majority rejected the measure, Basic denounced them as being soft on terrorism.
In response, he and a group of fellow hardline senators broke away from the RPP to form the Sons of Kresimir. The new party was dedicated to an uncompromising, militaristic solution to the Bosken question, rooted in the belief that the Republic’s divinity was non-negotiable.
Leadership and Influence
For the next 28 years, Basic led the SoK as a “critical ally” of the RPP. While never holding a majority, his party’s bloc of seats often provided the RPP with the necessary votes to pass legislation, but at the cost of pulling the government’s agenda further to the right. Basic was the most vocal supporter of the 1937 Constitutional Amendment restricting freedom of movement and consistently advocated for increased funding for the Council for Internal Affairs and the military.
He was a staunch opponent of any form of negotiation, famously declaring in a 1945 Assembly speech, “The Divine Republic cannot be negotiated; it must be enforced.” His unyielding presence in the Assembly was a major obstacle to any potential peace process. His retirement in 1952, along with that of Filip Novak, marked the end of the founding generation’s direct control of the Assembly and was a key factor in creating the political space for future peace talks.
Assassination
Even in retirement, Basic remained a powerful symbol of Kresimirian nationalism and the most hated figure among Bosken separatists. On the 8th of November 1954, while riding a public tram in his hometown of Kromine, he was killed when a bomb planted by BRC-21 was detonated.
The assassination of a Divine Founder horrified the Republic and led to an immediate and brutal crackdown in Moraviskameja under the orders of Chancellor Kresimir Kresimirovic II. The event dramatically escalated the conflict, contributing to the cycle of violence that would define the 1950s.
Ideology
Basic’s political philosophy was rooted in a fundamentalist interpretation of Kresimirianism, often referred to as “Divinism.” He believed that the Kresimirian state was a direct instrument of divine will and that any challenge to its sovereignty, such as the Bosken separatist movement, was not a political disagreement but a theological heresy. For him, separatism was a spiritual disease that must be purged by force, not a problem to be solved through compromise.
Legacy
Kresimir Basic is one of the most polarizing figures in the nation’s history. To his followers and members of the Sons of Kresimir, he is revered as a saintly patriot, a defender of the faith who understood the true nature of the threat facing the Republic. To liberals, moderates, and the Bosken people, he is remembered as a dangerous zealot whose uncompromising ideology fueled decades of unnecessary bloodshed and delayed the possibility of peace.