SPQR

Byzantium
Nation	Byzantium
Capital	Constantinople
Largest City	Constantinople
/n list page	1
Government
Leader	Justinian
Army Size	6
Political System	Theocratic Monarchy
Economic System	Capitalism
History
Oldest Town	Constantinople

The Eastern Roman Empire

Overview

The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) was founded on 1st november 6 pm on european time, becoming the first nation created in Eastern Europe, and 5th worldwide.

Geography

Holdings

Byzantium is primarily located in Greece and Anatolia. However, it also has a strong presence in Eastern Europe (particularly in Ukraine), the Levant Coast, and North Africa (mainly Egypt and Eastern Libya). Byzantium also has a Dominion in Thailand , Bactria and Egypt which has a strong presence in Central Asia, Africa and Indochina.

Position in Relation to Other Nations

Directly north of Constantinople is Bulgaria, followed shortly by Romania. To the east is the Islamic_State, followed by Georgia and Greater-Armenia. Towards the south-east is Judah. In the direct west is Albania, followed by Italia. Finally, Austria-Hungary is the farthest north-west.

Infrastructure

To be added

Architecture

The general architecture is from the classical to medieval ages. While it is not enforced, mayors and citizens alike are encouraged to build in this style.

History

The Time of the Imperators

Terra Nova Announced

On August 2, 2018, Fix announced on the EMC discord his intent to release the "Terra Nova" update. This update, while at this point was just teased without any specific details, was recognized by most players as the map reset that so many people were asking for. While a release date was not given, most players believed the release was in the near future, and thus began preparing nations for it.

Creation of SPQR

Within only a week of the announcement, Florene Aurelia and Tiberius Caesar (Lapurdi) created "Imperium Romanum". This nation sought to recreate the Roman Empire at its peak 117AD borders, with Florene and Tiberius as the two "Imperators" or emperors. On the 11th, the name was changed to "SPQR".

Rapid Initial Growth

As the two Imperators invited more and more players, the nation grew rapidly. Among the many early members of the nation were GeneralRhombus, Pock (Now TerraAustalis), PolkadotBlueBear, Phillybob777 (Justinian Diocletian), and Seranil. With the large influx of interested players, the early government felt confident on wide land claims from Britain to Egypt, from Gibraltar to the Danube. Hopes were high, and confidence was strong.

Territorial Backlash

After an initial week or so of rapid growth, SPQR started facing a large backlash from nations such as Germany and Spain, both of which had conflicting claims with the overly extended Roman Empire. Understanding this predicament, the Imperators shored up claims. Seranil, who was the leading Senator at the time, negotiated the Treaty of Sicily, which ceded Iberia and part of Morocco, in exchange for recognizing the other roman territorial claims. The Imperators also ceded the Rhineland to Germany, for similar terms.

Three Emperors, Three Jurisdictions

To help deal with all the government responsibilities the empire was facing, Justinian was raised to the title of Imperator by Florene and Tiberius. But now with three emperors ruling over SPQR, each of whom with different governing styles, tensions in the roman government grew. To settle the issue, the three agreed to split the empire into three zones of jurisdiction on August 30th, each led by an Imperator. Each Imperator got final say on matters in their zone. Florene ruled the west, with her capital at Rome; Justinian ruled the east, with his capital at Constantinople; and Tiberius ruled Egypt, North Africa, and the Holy Land, with his capital at Alexandria.

Abdication of Tiberius Caesar

Frustrated from the territorial concessions, and disheartened from the seeming inactivity by many members of SPQR, Tiberius Caesar abdicated from his position on September 3, 2018.

The Great Stagnation

From late August to late September, SPQR stagnated severely. Players started going inactive on the discord, players left, more territorial concessions were made, and SPQR almost collapsed before even the release of Terra Nova. This was caused by multiple factors:

Necessary territorial concessions played a factor, as many players saw the claim map slowly shrinking week by week. Britain was abandoned, North Africa was abandoned, Egypt was abandoned, the Holy Land was abandoned, much of France was abandoned. It seemed like within only a few weeks, there would be no territory left. Florene also took a few weeks off from the discord for a family vacation, which disheartened other players as they believed the government had gone inactive. Finally, the Terra Nova update was taking longer than expected to release. When initially teased in early August, most players believed that the release was merely weeks away, thus leading to the extensive planning done by multiple nations. But as August turned into September, and September neared October, the update felt like it would never arrive.

A New Third Emperor

Seeing these effects on the empire, Justinian decided to appoint another Imperator on September 23rd to help fill the void from Florene's vacation. He settled on Domininus Pius (DinoGod) to be appointed as the new Imperator of the west. Dominicus brought hope for a new influx of players, as he started using his connections to merge other planned nations and players from other servers into the Empire.

New Hope

Although September 2018 was a dark time for the empire, things began looking hopeful at the end of the month. Staff began hinting that Terra Nova was coming soon: On September 25th, Fix released a partial map screenshot; on October 5th, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO26xDvRSxQ& was posted; and three more posts over the next couple weeks continued to detail the upcoming release of Terra Nova. Florene also returned from her vacation. Justinian was able to negotiate the merging of some other planned nations such as UCS and "Byzantine_Empire". And Dominicus's efforts to invite other communities into the empire led to a securing of southern France and Italy (both of which previously appeared to be falling apart) and was even able to reclaim sections of North Africa.

The Ecumene

Among the foreign affairs policies enacted by the imperial administration at this time was the Ecumene. This alliance, originally named the Mediterranean League, was meant to secure roman borders and provide a counterweight to the other major military alliance known as PACTAM. Some of the major members of the Ecumene included Portugal, SPQR, and Bulgaria.

The Central Alliance

Along with the Ecumene, SPQR also joined the Central Alliance. This military alliance, between France, HRE (the planned but implemented one), and SPQR, sought to create a stable central Europe. It would later collapse during the release of Terra Nova when HRE was failed to be made, and France extended claims over much of Germany.

The Creation of the Tetrarchy

With the nation growing at a rapid rate again and the announcement of a distance limit from nation capitals to their towns, SPQR took two measures in order to better administer its territory. First, the empire was split into two towny nations. In the east would be Justinian and Florene, with their capital at Constantinople. In the west would be DinoGod with his capital at Rome. Second, the Imperial Administration added one more member to its ranks. In order to balance out power, and to balance out imperial administration, the west adopted a second emperor similar to the east.

New titles were also adopted to prevent a confusion about authority. "Imperator" was replaced by a senior emperor rank called "Augustus", and a junior emperor rank called "Caesar". In the model, based of the real life Diocletian tetrarchy, the Caesar would be subordinate to the Augustus and would essentially be the heir apparent. Thusly, Florene would rule as Augusta of the East, Justinian as the Caesar of the East, Dominicus as the Augustus of the West, and the newly appointed Marcellus as the Caesar of the West.

Marcellus arrived on the scene as part of Dominicus' recruiting projects. He was the leader of a large group of non-EMC players, who were found by Dominicus. The deal made between the two was simple: Marcellus would be made Caesar of the West, and his group would merge into SPQR. After final arrangements were made, the tetrarchy was formed.

The Tetrarchy

Initial Fallout From Terra Nova

When Terra Nova was released, donators were given a few days headstart over the all other players. To ensure the survival of the eastern empire, Florene asked Syn, the then leader of the HRE and donator, if he could create Constantinople so another nation would not claim it first. Syn agreed to help, and on October 26 2018, he created the town of Constantinople.

The west was not so lucky. The only player who had donator ranks was Marcellus, who was able to claim Rome. However, a new, yes unknown nation started taking hold over northern Italy. This nation, Italia, was previously unknown to SPQR, and as the days until the full, non-donator release of Terra Nova dragged on, the western empire was only able to watch as town after town was made in northern Italy. Negotiations were attempted but proved futile, as Marcellus' attacks on the Italians precluded any further talks.

Terra Nova Released

On November 1, 2018, the Terra Nova release finally arrived. Players rushed on the server and raced to be the first one to claim this or that town, or to build this or that nation. In the east, things were looking hopeful. Over a dozen active players (most of which were senators prepping to create their own towns) had joined Constantinople and were all collecting gold to create the nation.

The west did not look as good. While Rome was claimed by Marcellus, who refused to hand it over to his senior emperor Dominicus. And the only other town that was created was Carthage, on the northern tip of Tunisia. Every other western citizen either disappeared, or moved east. Little action was done in the west to otherwise cement their territory, and the dispute over Rome only escalated the issue.

Western Rebellion

Blaming the entire SPQR government for the territorial issues in the west, Marcellus declared himself in open rebellion on November 1, 2018. He claimed to be "Imperator" of Rome and broke away from the western empire. He took the rebellion a step further, and through fake DM chats between one of his lieutenants and a phony Justinian account, he tried in instill distrust in the eastern monarchy. For these treasonous acts, Marcellus was stripped of his position, made an enemy of the state, and was banned from the SPQR discord along with all of his supporters.

Caesar Justinian making an imperial statement on the rebellion (November 1 2018)

Acquisition of Horses

After some experimentation with the MCMMO plugin's Taming skill, CorruptedGreed, mayor of Philippopolis, spawned some in and breeded them. This supplied the capital, Constantinople, with its first horses.

Italia Recognized as The New Western Empire

When Marcellus took Rome for himself at the very start of Terra Nova and refused to give it to the rightful Augustus in the West: Dominicus, the establishment of the Western Roman Empire came to a sudden halt. Italia to the north however, had begun to slowly creep further southwards over the coming days with the establishment of new towns. Eventually seeing the situation in the west as hopeless, Florene reached an agreement with the Italians, recognizing them as the new western empire, thus allowing her to focus on matters in the east. The dual empire of old was now just one, eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium.

The Diarchy

Ecumene Dissolved

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Byzantium Reaches the #1 Spot on /n list

Since the first week Byzantium was always one of the most Active and most populated nation , however near December Byzantium came to its peek as #1 Nation , in January it lost to Nazi in number of Citizen but greatly out numbered any nation in terms of Town (60 Byzantine town compared to 30 for the second biggest nation)

Intervention Between Canadian Tribes and Panama

As a request from Panama , Byzantium came to their help in the war in exchange of some Turtle Eggs.

NATO Founded

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Forum of Constantine Completed

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Constitution Completed

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Christmas Conflict

Placeholder text, Christmas Conflict.

Mercenary Work Outlawed

Following the Christmas Conflict, mercenary work was outlawed. Citizens of Byzantium were no longer allowed to operate as mercenaries under the reasoning that it causes problems for foreign affairs.

Turkish Republic Claim Deal

After the creation of the Turkish_Republic , Justinian made a deal with them , giving them half of Anatolia(Eastern part) to the turk while the West and Center would be Byzantine , this deal started an Internal conflict in Byzantium between the Greek Head and the Armenian Population of East Anatolia that saw its expansion possibility blocked by the deal, the Deal would be later broken by the Turk at the time of the Balkans War.

January 2019 Elections

The election started out with a total of 6 candidates. 5 of the candidates were running for Consul, with the other being the only one to run for Legatus. The 5 starting candidates for Consul were Carlos_Dorelli, CorruptedGreed, moope787, WTDpuddles, and Voisardian. The race was steady, with all of the candidates posting their campaigns gradually throughout the month of December. However, being the first election, there were certainly bumps along the way. The Christmas Conflict led to Consul candidate Carlos_Dorelli dropping out of the race before the voting period started. Following this incident, Voisardian started publicly criticizing other candidates, borderline smearing them. [Historian's note: To be continued]

The First Consulship of CorruptedGreed

Byzantium-Albania War

The Byzantium-Albania War was an unprecedented conflict. Relations between Byzantium and Albania were stable for a great duration of both the nations' existences. However, tensions between the two suddenly skyrocketed. Hampusk8, the king of Albania, had harassed _S64_, the committee chair in charge of infrastructure, by attacking him multiple times during the construction of a railway. After the increased acts of hostility, Albania created the town of Prilep in Byzantium's claimed land (Macedonia). This drew sharp a turning point in relations, and sent the nations into war against each other. The conflict was concluded with a decisive Byzantine victory after the creation of Forte_Carlos. Hampusk8 surrendered to Byzantium, and came to the table to organize peace. On January 15th, Hampusk8 agreed to the terms of the Byzantine-Albanian Treaty, drafted by current-serving Consul CorruptedGreed, and approved by the Augustus, Justinian. The treaty most prominently includes full reparations for the Fort in exchange for its disbandment, along with Albania handing over the town of Prilep.

NATO Dissolved

Due to internal trouble NATO, was dissolved. This information came with some happiness in Byzantium as some citizens (mainly Serbian and Armenian) had no sympathy for the Coalition name. After the disbandment of the alliance, new ones were developed to fill the gap left.

New Alliance Solution

After leaving NATO, Byzantium decided to take a more decentralized and article approach to its alliances. The next step of action was joining 3 separate alliances: the Tervel Alliance, the Near East Treaty Organization, and the Intermarium Alliance. The Tervel alliance is the personal military alliance between Bulgaria and Byzantium. The Near East Treaty Organization is a means of organizing the borders of the middle east. The current members are Byzantium, Judah, Persia, and possibly soon Greater_Armenia. Finally, the Intermarium Alliance, being an economic and military alliance for eastern and southern Europe. It has a defense pact aspect, so member states need to help one another if they get war declared on them. The members states are Byzantium, Bulgaria, MinskanRus, and Austria-Hungary. As January 12th, 2019, Austria-Hungary is no longer apart of this alliance due to declaring war on another member state, Byzantium (The Great Balkan War).

The Great Balkan War

Byzantium is a primary participant in The Great Balkan War, being the main defender against the adversaries, The Tilted Powers.

Abdication of Florene

On January 10th, 2019, Florene, the current serving Augustus, decided to abdicate. This decision was made by her in order to invest more time into building Constantinople. Justinian, being the long-serving Caesar, was to replace Florene. The ceremony to crown Justinian was held during mid-January with the participation rate exceeding 20 players (Enemies were also allowed the attend; fighting was successfully prohibited for the duration of the ceremony).

3 Byzantine Towns on /towny top land

On January 19th, Cilician_Armenia grasped a position among the top 10 biggest towns, after having farmed 1500 gold in just 3 days. It sits with Constantinople (365 plots), Pergamon (289 plots), with Cilician_Armenia at 246 plots. Thus far, Byzantium is the only nation that has more than 1 town being apart of the top 10 biggest towns on the server. This achievement signals that towns other than the capital are experiencing major development. Byzantium may be the first nation to set an example for nation-wide development, dissuading from having Constantinople as their Forward Capital.

The February 2019 Elections

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The Second Consulship of CorruptedGreed

(January 29th 2019 - March 1st 2019)

Government

The Imperial College

Augustus

• Justinian / Phillybob777

Caesar

• Vacant

Consul

• CorruptedGreed

Legatus

• MisaiAki

The Senate

Senators

• _asimple_
• ACPenguin
• ArcticKnight98
• BlizzardArt
• BrentBourguignon
• C_5365
• Chrizz
• Carman
• Carlos_Dorelli
• Comrade_Ginger
• CornedMilk
• CorruptedGreed
• Dogogoto201
• Fluxify
• gamder
• God_Of_Murloc
• HereForThePizza
• Jump Fox
• lolfritz2
• Misai Aki
• Mining_Tzar
• moope787
• myhnealut
• Pestzar
• Pimdici
• Offtechgamer
• SKraHH
• Solaris
• Solariu
• sweatymelons
• Turtle
• WTDpuddles
• Yellow

Military

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48 levies

5 Legionnaires

1 Centurion

Buildings

Architectural Wonders

The Forum of Constantine

Serving as the main center of the city, the forum of Constantine is a circular public space that includes the Senate house. The forum in its entirety occupies a 7 by 7 chunk area of the capital. Quartz, brick, and colored terracotta/concrete are among the materials used to decorate the ornate marvel.

Notable People

The following people have facilitated a unique contribution to the nation with their past or contemporary presence, and are made note of here. [Historian's note: Specifics will be added underneath names soon]

Florene (Augustus from November to January,main constructor of Constantinople)

Phillybob777 (Second in charge and then new Augustus of Byzantium since Mid-January)

Syn (Old Patriarch, First fundator of Constantinople)

Carlos_Doreli (Mayor of the 8th biggest Town,Top 2 Miners,1st Excavation,Important Trader)

God_Of_Murloc (Prince of the Cilician Protectorate,Made at least 12 Town,found many Citizen,Top 6th Miners)

National Subdivisions

The nation uses provinces and Dominion as a subdivison.

Balkanic Province:Dalmatia,Brentopolis,Aegyssus,Salona,Mostar,Isaccea,Skopje

Greek Province:Philippopolis,Myrmidones,Thessaloniki,Volos,Athens,Achais,Angelokastro,Zante,Aegan Bunker,Knossos

Thracian Province:Constantinople,Samothraki

Anatolian:Pergamon,Bursa,Troy,Izmir,Afyon,Chios,Rhodes,Caria,Neptune,Adana,Ancyra,Sebastae,Trebizond,Satalieh

Levantine:Cilician_Armenia,Malakopi,Tigranakert,Edessa,Antioch,Palmyra,Knight_Templar,Bagdad,Tripolie,Lemesus

Alexandria(Egypt) Province:Old_Alexandria,Cairo,Cyrene,Cara

Cossack Province:Zaporozhye,Buran,Gascogne,Fantasiym,Donetsk,Poltava,Kiev,Sarov

The Dominion of Byzantium are:

Dominion of Thailand

Dominion of Bactria

Dominion of Egypt

Cities/Towns

• Adana
• Aegyssus
• Aegan_Bunker
• Afyon
• Alexandria
• Ancyra
• Anderta
• Antioch
• Athens
• Attalia
• Avaria
• Baghdad
• Bangkok (capital,Thaï colony)
• Brentopolis
• Bursa
• Cairo
• Cara
• Cilician_Armenia (Cilician Protectorate)
• Constantinople (Capital City)
• Chumphon Canal (Thaï colony)
• Corinth
• Cyrene
• Donetsk
• Edessa
• Gascogne
• Hua Hin (Thaï colony)
• Hainan (Thaï colony)
• Izmir
• Kiev
• Krusevac
• Knights Templar
• Knossos
• Komelkova
• Krasnoperekopsk
• Lemesus
• Luang Prabang (Thaï colony)
• Malakopi (Cilician Protectorate)
• Neptune
• Old Alexandria
• Pergamon
• Philippopolis
• Poltava
• Rhodes
• Salona
• Sebastae
• Thebes (Capital,Egypt Colony)
• Thessaloniki
• Trebizond
• Tigranakert (Cilician Protectorate)
• Troy
• Vinh (Thaï colony)
• Volos
• Yangon (Thaï colony)
• Zaporozhye (de facto independent or possible future Dominion Capital)
• Zulu (Egypt Colony)

Foreign Relations

Friendly Relations

Bulgaria

We've known them for a while and get along well. There was a crisis over the town of Krasnodar which they let in but it has been resolved now

Romania

There have been clashes over the town of Aegyssus on the Danube but we've reached an agreement on borders and thus, we've become much friendlier as of late

Italia

With Italia now being recognized by us as the western half of our empire and their leader as an Augustus, it is safe to say we've become good allies despite our very shaky initial relations. I'm a huge fan of cities like Venice and Roman/Italian architecture so going to their country is always a treat.

Nazi Germany

I helped to fund the creation of their state and I like the ambition that Hitlar has for Berlin, still, some of their citizens have been rowdy and acted aggressively towards us so my thoughts on Nazi Germany are mixed. I hope that we can improve relations in the future though

Greater-Armenia

Military Alliance against the Islamic State

Hostile Relations

Greater-Moravia

Zebbs_ frequent and wihout reason raid is the main reason of the bad relations

Romania

Romania were always angry at Byzantium for the Byzantine holding of Aegyssus on the romanian coast of the black sea

Albania

Since albania claimed a town in Byzantium land the relations between the two nation became realy bad

Austria_Hungary

Since Byzantium expanded its land to the Balkans the relations between Byzantium and Austria_Hungary kept falling , hitting a bottom worst at the Balkans War , Austria_Hungary and Byzantium claims dispute are the main reason for the war.

Titles, Ranks, and Honors

Emperors

Florene Aurelia

• Imperatrix (August 8th - October 25th 2018)

• Augusta (October 25th 2018 - January 13th 2019)
• Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (January 14th 2019 - January 29th)
• Chief Diplomat (January 14th 2019 - January 29th)

Justinian Diocletian

• Imperator (September 3rd - October 25th 2018)
• Caesar (October 25th 2018 - January 13th 2019)
• Augustus (January 13th 2019 - Present)

Dominicus Pius

• Governor of Italia (September 9th - September 23rd 2018)
• Imperator (September 23rd - October 25th 2018)
• Augustus (October 25th - November 9th 2018)

Tiberius Caesar

• Imperator (August 11th - September 9th 2018)

Consuls

CorruptedGreed

• Governor of Achaia & Moesia (??? - December 6th 2018)
• Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee (??? - December 31st 2018)
• Consul (January 1st 2019 - Present)

Other Government Officials

Syn

• Holy Patriarch (October 31st 2018 - ???)
• Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (November 9th 2018 - ???)
• Chief Diplomat (November 9th 2018 - ???)
• Chairman of the Media Committee (January 15th 2019 - Present)

MisaiAki

• Centurion (??? - December 31st 2018)
• Legatus (January 1st - January 20th 2019)
• Chairman of the Defense Committee (January 1st - January 20th 2019)
• Holy Patriarch (January 12th 2019 - Present)

lolfritz

• Governor of Narbonensis (September 9th - ???)
• Governor of Dalmatia (??? - December 6th 2018)

moope787

• Legatus (??? - December 31st 2018)
• Chairman of the Defense Committee (??? - December 31st 2018)

OwenTheGuy

• Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (January 1st - January 13th 2019)
• Chief Diplomat (January 1st - January 13th 2019)

Solariu

• Chairman of the Economics Committee (January 1st 2019 - January 29th)

_S64_

• Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee (January 1st 2019 - January 29th)

Yellow

• Chairman of the State Resources Committee (January 10th 2019 - January 29th)
• Centurion (January 12th 2019 - Present)

SierraJam

• Chairman of the Urban Development Committee (January 1st 2019 - Present)

MLGTerra

• Centurion (January 20th - January 29th 2019)
• Legatus (January 29th 2019 - Present)
• Chairman of the Defense Committee (January 29th 2019 - Present)

WTDPuddles

• Chairman of the Economics Committee (??? - December 31st 2018)
• Chairman of the State Resources Committee (January 1st - January 10th 2019)

OfftechTheGamer

• Chairman of the Economics Committee (January 29th 2019 - Present)

God_of_Murloc

• Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee (January 29th 2019 - Present)