Vlado Soric (1915–1998) was a Kresimirian civil servant and intelligence chief who served as the fourth Chief State Councillor of the Council for Internal Affairs (CIA) from 1962 to 1985.
Appointed by Chancellor Kresimirovic III following the resignation of the hardline General Borna Kulas, Soric was tasked with the difficult job of demilitarizing the Kresimirian police state following the Treaty of Brod Moravice. His tenure is characterized by a shift away from the brute-force tactics of the “Iron Era” toward intelligence-gathering, containment, and the management of the uneasy peace with the Bosken Liberation Front (BLF).
While criticized by nationalists for his “soft” approach to the terrorist group AFIM, Soric is credited by historians for preventing the Republic from sliding back into civil war during the fragile post-Treaty decades.
Early Life and Civil Service
Vlado Soric was born in 1915 in Ravna Skrad. He developed a pragmatic worldview that eschewed the extremism of the east and the south. He studied Law at Sinj University, graduating in 1938.
He joined the CIA in 1940 as a legal analyst. During the Great Purge of 1955, Soric managed to survive by keeping a low profile and framing himself as an apolitical technocrat. While General Kulas militarized the agency, Soric worked in the background, managing the bureaucratic machinery of the internal passport system.
Chief State Councillor (1962–1985)
The Appointment
In 1961, General Kulas resigned in protest over the signing of the Treaty of Brod Moravice. The Republic was in a precarious position: the army was furious, the nationalists were rioting, and the Bosken south was in flux.
Chancellor Kresimirovic III needed a steady hand to de-escalate tensions. He chose Soric, a civilian bureaucrat, to signal a return to the rule of law. Soric’s first act was to formally separate the Civil Order Force from the Kresimirian Army command structure, re-establishing civilian control over domestic policing.
The AFIM Challenge
Soric’s tenure was defined by the cat-and-mouse game with Jochen Schoff and AFIM.
- The 1964 Kidnappings: Soric faced his first major crisis during the 1964 AFIM Kidnappings. While Vjetrusa and the Sons of Kresimir demanded a military invasion of District X, Soric advised caution, fearing a return to full-scale war. Although one hostage died, his refusal to authorize a heavy-handed crackdown preserved the peace treaty with the BLF.
- Intelligence War: Unable to use the military sweeps of the past, Soric focused on building an informant network within Moraviskameja. While he never captured Schoff, his agency successfully thwarted several bombing plots in the 1970s.
Managing the BLF
Soric maintained a pragmatic, back-channel relationship with BLF leader Nadja Vrasch. While officially adversaries, Soric and Vrasch cooperated to marginalize AFIM extremists. Soric allowed the BLF to police its own communities to a degree, provided they kept the peace—a policy of “Containment via Autonomy.”
Retirement and Death
By the mid-1980s, the political climate was shifting. The rise of Ljubo Sanjakorin and his statist economic agenda required a security chief who could manage aggressive labor unions and enforce nationalization. Soric, viewed as a relic of the “gentle” post-Treaty consensus, was pressured to retire.
He stepped down in 1985 and was succeeded by the ruthless Jakov Brnobic, who would re-intensify the agency’s operations. Soric retired to Ravna Skrad, where he wrote a text on administrative law. He died in 1998.
Legacy
Vlado Soric is often overshadowed by his more infamous predecessors (Zima, Kulas) and successors (Brnobic, Bilis). However, he played a critical role in the survival of the Republic. By transforming the CIA from an occupation force into a domestic intelligence agency, he allowed the wounds of the Unification War to begin healing, creating the stability necessary for the economic boom of the 1970s.