Byzantine Empireball

Byzantineball, also known as the Byzantiumball, Eastern Roman Empireball or Byzantine Empireball, continues to refer to itself as the Eastern Roman Empire, is a Medieval countryball from south-east Europe  with the glory of Rome.

History
Byzantineball was the  first kebab remover  son of SPQRball ,the grandson of  Ancient Greeceball and the father of. He was the true successor of SPQRball (unlike that imposter!).

For some time SPQRball was declining and decrepit, with constant war, be it civil or otherwise. Because they were always traveling to the beaches of East Mediterranean everywhere to protect the imperial borders, and also due to the fact that Romeball was just plain bad, the Emperor Constantine decided to shift the capital city to the old Greek colony of Byzantium, and renamed it in his honor, but on his death  SPQRball split into  Western Roman Empireball and, of course,  Byzantineball.

Soon after, a bunch of Barbarians invaded, tried to siege  Constantinopleball ( EAST ROME STRONK ), but found the walls too impenetrable, and left.

Meanwhile, The West Wasn't doing as well, and struggled with Germanic invasions and in general the problems of the later Roman Empire. It slowly lost territory until An aspiring general finally put the ailing empire out of its misery, to the horror of Byzantineball, in 476 CE.

Rome continued on in the East. After some 60-odd years of dithering, Byzantineball looked to the West, and tried to revive the Roman dream where the barbarian fiefdoms now stood. He conquered the Vandal Kingdomball, retaking North Africa and the great port of Carthago, former capital of  Rome's Ancient Arch-Nemesis.

Soon after, Byzantineball hungrily eyed  Ostrogothic Kingdomball, whom had usurped Odoacer some time before.

Byzantineball started his rape by grasping Sicilyball and much of Southern Italy whilst slowly reaching into her Illyria. After a long, tiring struggle that drained Byzantineball's life savings, All of  Ostrogothic Kingdomball's territory, save Pannonia, were captured, with only symbolic, devastating recapture of Roman cities and territory. These conquests were further galvanized by the capture of territory in Southern Spainball whilst the local  Visigoth Rulers were embroiled in a civil war.

Then everything became bad again for the successors of Rome, and a destructive war between them and their old enemies,  Sassanidball, had drained the both of them and were taken advantage of by   The Worst Cancer To Ever Besmirch this Earth Some Crafty Desert People. He in time lost all his clay south of Tarsus while the Sassanids were completely devoured.

At this point Byzantineball lost almost all his strength and could barely fend off attacks into somewhat more defensible Asia Minor. He was now poor, weak, and barely Roman. His grip on Italyball was weakening ever faster, and all at this point seemed lost. Islamic pirates had snapped off many islands throughout the Mediterranean, and his once formidable navy was now in shambles.

By this time, Latin was dying, and was being replaced by  Greek as the lingua franca, but still called themselves Romans. The Filthy barbarians West, which had somewhat stabilized at this point, started looking down upon him, despite them being in a worse state.

The coronation of Franciaball as "Roman" emperor (HREball) by  Papal Statesball in the year 800 was a depraved act: and solidified  Byzantineball's dislike of the Latins, which is why  Byzantineball was always suspicious of them. The emperors of the HREball sought in many ways to make themselves accepted by the Byzantines as their peers: with diplomatic relations, political marriages or threats. Sometimes, however, they did not obtain the expected results, because to Constantinople they were always the "King of the Unlawful Usurpers Germans", never "Emperor".

Eventually, piece by piece, Byzantineball picked himself up, and got to work reconquering territories. It was finally under a dynasty of "Macedonians", things started to look up, and now at its height since the beginning of the  Islamic conquests, the empire spanned from Neapolis to Lecca, Zagreb to Antioch to Ani.

And then everything collapsed. Again. Thanks to filthy kebab. Byzantineball, having lost almost all of Anatolia and in a panic, called  Papal Statesball and asked for help. What he got would set events into motion that changed the Western world.

The last 250-ish years of Byzantineball's existence was a whirlwind of reconquest, crusades, getting conquested, assassination by  Veniceball, creation of  Frankokratia reconquest, resurrection, and slow loss of territory until he was finally put to eternal rest by  Ottoman Empireball. With that, the final light of SPQRball was extinguished, but its legacy left a mark. A mark on those barbarians to the west...

Family

 * SPQRball - Father.
 * Western Roman Empireball - Brother that died early, killed by Germaniaball who then wanted to take his place as HREball imposter.
 * Empire of Trebizondball - My nephew who didn't do much to help me.
 * Despotate of Epirusball - My nephew who tried to kill Latin Empireball but failed.
 * Empire of Nicaeaball - My best nephew. He killed Latin Empireball and resurrected me for a while.
 * Ancient Greeceball - Grandfather. I decided to speak his language, not the language of my father.
 * Greeceball - Son, I know, Smyrna and Constantinople belongs to him, but kebabs and Germaniaball's descendents won't let him be.
 * Vlachballs - "Torna, torna, fratre!" (Return, return, brother!).
 * Latin Empireball - Product of rape from Veniceball. At least he's not of kebab.
 * Spainball - My niece, though we have differences, I named her true successor of Romeball as my clay was taken away from me by Ottoman Kebab.
 * Despotate of Moreaball - Another nephew of mine, I recall his love about sandcastles when he was litlle as I walk by the mighty castles he has built.
 * Holy Roman Empireball - The Pope made him my halfbrother, what the *$#^%^! This imposter, why is he my relative??? Just because the Pope is Pontifex Maximus of the Roman Church does not mean he has the right to do that and the fact my Father raped Germaniaball does not make him my halfbrother!

Friends

 * Serbiaball - My adoptive son and vow enforcer to remove all kebab (he also has my flag on his coat of arms).
 * Russiaball - Heir to the legacy of kebab removing  Eastern Orthodoxyball, and he considered himself as the next Rome.
 * Western Roman Empireball - He was my brother/ally before getting killed by Germaniaball.
 * Empire of Nicaeaball - Hero who helped me kill Latin Empireball and resurrected me.
 * Republic of Genoaball - He helped me in my final battle against kebab! I thank him for that.
 * Turkic Khaganateball - Non-kebab Turkic friend who hates Persia too. But I hate his descendant!
 * Ayyubidball - I'm sorry for battling yuo. Cause Salahuddin was a wise leader. Yuo are one of good kebabs. When the crusader failed to conquer Jerusalem, yuo still allow them to pray there. May God bless yuo and thanks for returning St Sepulchre key to me.
 * Islamball (Sometimes) - Thanks for supporting us in the war with that !@#$%^&* MANDBIRD Sassanid. BUT TELL YOUR MEMBER OTTOMAN and RASHIDUN TO STOP TAKING ALL MOU CLAY!!! AYYUBID IS BETTER KEBAB EMPIRE THAN OTHERS!

Enemies

 * Kebab - BLOOD-THIRSTY SHAME OF EARTH HERETIC! Arch-enemy! He stole Constantinople! At least my people he did not being removed and GO AGAINST CRUSADER STATE THAT WOUNDED MY CONSTANTINOPLE!!! AND I STILL HATE YOU DESPITE BEING THAT!
 * Sassanidball- This MANBIRD !@#$%^&* ruined the 7th century. And he was my main enemy in middle east. At the start of the war, i lost heavy to him, even Jerusalem almost fell to him. But luckily, Islamball's Holy Quran predicted that someday, he will defeated by me. And it was true but I still want to keep muh clay. I respect kebabs(NOT OTTOMAN).
 * Hunball - He came here and took clay from Germaniaball and me. This forced Germaniaball to take clay from SPQRball.
 * Germaniaball - He killed my father and my brother then he became an imposter of SPQRball.
 * Veniceball - Ruined me for good! He also raped my peoples!
 * Latin Empireball - Evil Catholics that stole my glorious city of Constantinople. He is another imposter!!!
 * Holy Roman Empireball - IMPOSTER! He is son of Germaniaball and to me he is just another version of Germaniaball!!!!! You will be never the true Roman Empire, IMPOSTER!!! I´M COMING FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!
 * Kievan Rusball - I won't forgive you for raiding and laying a siege on Constantinople! You're just like those vikings! Speaking of which, didn't you had your first king as a Viking prince? I guess that runs through the bloodline, huh.
 * Second Bulgarian Empireball - Stop revolting and stealing my clay! You are of Byzantineball! Why can't you be nice like Serbiaball?
 * [[File:First Bulgarian Empire-icon.png]] First Bulgarian Empireball - He was even worse than his son! Took a lot of my European clay and nearly took Constantinople...922 NEVER FORGET! YUO WERE VERY HARD TO REMOVE UNTIL 1018!
 * Umayyadball - This kebab has tried to besiege Constantinople but failed. Hahahaha...!!! But his revenge was avenged by !@#$%^&* kebab! !@#$%^&*!!!
 * Pope Innocentius III - !@#$%^&* POPE!!! WHATS THE REASON YUO TRY TO RAPE AND RAIDING ME?!!! JUST BECAUSE YUOR !@#$%^&* CRUSADERS DIDNT HAVE MONEY WHEN THE VENICE TRADERS SERVE THEM?!!! AND THE VENICE TOLD YUOR CRUSADER TO RAID ME?!!! PREPARE YUOR MONEY FIRST BEFORE YUOR CRUSADER GO TO EGYPT!!! AND YUO SHOULD CONQUER JERUSALEM, NOT RAIDING MY CLAY!!!
 * Seljukball - STOP ATTACKING ME YUO KEBAB!!! IF YUO WANT INTO CONQUER JERUSALEM, STOP DRIVING OUT THE NON MUSLIM!!! Of course I know crusaders took Jerusalem and killed your people and I HATE CRUSADER MORE THAN KEBAB!
 * Bagratid Armeniaball - Stole all his clay and didn't leave enough soldiers to defend it afterwards, leaving it open for kebab invasion. Oops!
 * Rashidunball- Pls of stop taking muh clay! And i hate kebabs! This kebab also ruined muh 7th century! BTW, Thanks for removing this so called Sassanidball AKA MANBIRD WORSHIPPER. But you are even worser then them!

How to Draw
Drawing Byzantiumball is rather confusing considering the amount of possible designs you can chose from, but the most common is:
 * 1) Draw a circle coloured red
 * 2) Draw a cross coloured gold
 * 3) Since you drew a gold cross, the red circle is separated into quadrants, in those quadrants, draw the Greek letter "B" in gold . On the left quadrants, make them face the opposite direction
 * 4) Draw two eyes and you're done!

Comics
Византия 拜占庭球