Neda Orlak (c. 1915–1988) was the second and final leader of the Bosken separatist militant group BRC-21. She presided over the organization during its most violent and active period but ultimately made the historic decision to lead it to the negotiating table, culminating in her role as a chief signatory of the 1961 Treaty of Brod Moravice.
Origins and Rise to Leadership
Born in Moraviskameja shortly before the collapse of the Vosti Empire, Neda Orlak came of age during the turmoil of the Kresimirian Unification War and the subsequent founding of BRC-21. As a young woman, she was a fervent believer in the cause of Bosken independence and became an early and devoted member of the movement under its founder, Lev Ruka.
By the early 1940s, she was considered Ruka’s most trusted deputy. Following Lev Ruka’s death in a Kresimirian state security operation in 1942, the BRC-21’s inner council selected Orlak to succeed him.
Leadership of BRC-21 (1942–1961)
Orlak’s nineteen-year leadership marked the most intense phase of the Kresimir-Bosken conflict. Adopting a strategy of a “long war,” she oversaw a sustained campaign of guerrilla warfare and high-profile terrorist attacks designed to destabilize the Kresimirian state and force political concessions. Key events during her tenure include:
- The 1953 Ravna Skrad Market Bombing.
- The audacious but failed 1953 attempt on the life of Chancellor Kresimirovic II.
- The successful 1954 assassination of Divine Founder Kresimir Basic.
This campaign of violence was met with equally harsh crackdowns from the Kresimirian government, entrenching the conflict. The turning point of her leadership came with the 1960 bombing of Karlovac University. While demonstrating BRC-21’s reach, the immense civilian death toll backfired, alienating potential sympathizers and convincing Orlak that the path of armed struggle had reached a bloody and unsustainable impasse.
Role in the Treaty of Brod Moravice
Recognizing the strategic dead end, Orlak’s deputy, Nadja Vrasch, convinced her to enter secret negotiations with the Kresimirian government in late 1960. Vrasch was appointed as the head of the BRC-21 delegation, and was the ultimate authority on the Bosken side of the talks.
During the difficult negotiations, Vrasch and Orlak championed the core concessions that would form the basis of the treaty: the legal right to form a political party and, most importantly, the constitutional amendment to waive the Faith Restriction Clause in District X. In return, Orlak and Vrasch made the momentous decision to agree to the complete disarmament of BRC-21, effectively ending its four-decade armed struggle. Their decision was highly controversial, leading to a schism with hardliners like the senior Bosken militant Jochen Schoff, who broke away to form AFIM.
Later Life and Legacy
After signing the treaty in 1961, Orlak oversaw the formal dissolution of BRC-21. In a deliberate act of transition, she chose not to lead the newly formed legal party, the Bosken Liberation Front. Instead, she stepped aside and endorsed Nadja Vrasch to become the public face of the new political era.
Neda Orlak retired from public life, living as a revered but private “elder stateswoman” of the Bosken movement until her death in 1988. Her legacy is complex and dual-sided: she is remembered by Kresimirians as the leader who commanded BRC-21 during its most brutal years, yet she is honored by the Bosken people as the pragmatic leader who had the courage to trade the gun for the ballot box, securing tangible political rights for her people and ending a generation of bloodshed.