How plausible would a vestigial Western (latin) Roman Empire be, say one that was based in the papal states, or one that had managed to cling to a small part of it's original territory, such as sardinia, the toe of italy or tunis (carthage)? it might be interesting for it to try to stem the tide of conquest in the same way the Eastern Romans try. the two embattled emperors could even try to help each other, or try to get powerful city states such as venice on their side to try to stem the tide of barbarian conquest.
a two province counterpart empire of byzantium might be nice, perhaps with more "western" symbolism for flags and shields (say a one headed eagle shield or she-wolf with romulus and remus shield with a red flag with SPQR in yellow or black on it) would be short lived as a computer player, but might be an interesting challenge for the human player.
perhaps a pivotal event proposing eventual reunification - in the interests of self preservation - under eastern or western terms (i.e. a greek, orthodox empire or an italian, catholic empire) would be a major turning point for the history of said empire, as it would effectively decide the destiny of a reborn empire, eastern or western orientation.
a two province counterpart empire of byzantium might be nice, perhaps with more "western" symbolism for flags and shields (say a one headed eagle shield or she-wolf with romulus and remus shield with a red flag with SPQR in yellow or black on it) would be short lived as a computer player, but might be an interesting challenge for the human player.
perhaps a pivotal event proposing eventual reunification - in the interests of self preservation - under eastern or western terms (i.e. a greek, orthodox empire or an italian, catholic empire) would be a major turning point for the history of said empire, as it would effectively decide the destiny of a reborn empire, eastern or western orientation.
