Linton Messer

Linton Messer (*2745; † 2792-05-03) or Linton Messer XI was the last Imperator of the Messer family. He became Imperator of the United Empire of Earth after a successful plot against his father Ulysses Messer and succeeded him in 2781. His regency was overshadowed by a civilian and military uprising which ended with his deposition and death in 2792. His successor became Erin Toi.

Life
Linton was the son of Ulysses Messer X and the older brother of Fiona Messer. Ulysses labored his whole life to build the Khanos Stadium. Having grown weary of waiting for their father to pass, Fiona and Linton secretly funded a resistance movement. Linton, an effortlessly persuasive man, worked his way through members of his father's inner circle and prominent members of the military, as well as the Senate and Advocacy, in an effort to find assets that he could potentially use to depose his father. On the day of the stadium's opening (2781-08-12) the stadium was attacked in a bombing orchestrated by Linton's sister Fiona. Ulysses took his own life after it became clear that Linton had control of the military and a coup was imminent.

His first action was to eliminate the resistance movement he founded. Nevertheless, he "created an infrastructure that invigorated the revolutionary movement". The new Imperator found himself in a dangerous situation, threatened by both outer enemies (Xi'an and Vanduul) and inner disturbances.

Linton hired his cousin Ellis Netemi as his personal advisor, who would go on to be involved in the terraforming of Garron II.

Death of Anthony Tanaka
At the time, child and compulsory labour on several planets were also major issues of social unrest. The oppression by the Advocacy also served as fuel for the fire of resentement spreading against the Messer regime. Seemingly, Messer XI never tried to reform the system.

Akari-Kray-Peace Treaty
In 2789 the Senate under the lead of Terrence Akari signed a peace treaty with the Xi'an. Linton never ratified the treaty, following the political xenophobic guideline of his predecessors. This was not a publicly popular choice. The Xi'an seem to have supported the resistance movement directly or indirectly.

Rearmament
In 2790 he ordered the development of new weapon prototypes. Juliet Maupin was entrusted with this task. The weapons were shipped in 2792, but with the fall of the regime, the projects were abandoned. The abandoned plans built the fundament of Colabellos Apocalypse Arms.

Resistance of 78th Squadron
Military Squadrons found themselves on core worlds fighting against political dissidents, rather than the alien threats they signed up for. The 78th Squadron was sent in 2791 to bombard a settlement of unarmed dissidents on an asteroid. The Squadron refused to kill innocent civilians and were arrested and sentenced to death. This was a major blow to the Messer regime's popularity.

Massacre of Garron II and Vale
The final straw was the involvement of the Messer family in the terraforming project of Garron II, which ended with the death of a sentient, self-aware species. Leaked videos sparked massive outrage which led to a UEE-wide uprising. Police and military forces killed nearly 250 protestors in Vale.

Deposition and Death
A coup d'etat started on 11 April 2792 and ended with the deposition of Messer XI on 3 May 2792. His sister Fiona fled and went missing. He was succeded by Erin Toi, former Senator of Earth.