Greetings all,

March was the "first month" of our second year and it was a very good one for Byzantium Novum. Our main forum, the Senate and our business forums have all been quite active! Currently Byzantium Novum has a total of 156 Citizens, a gain of 6 for the month. Our Facebook contacts now number 1842, so 56 new people have found and "friended" us this month.

The biggest news for March 2011 is that the Senate has just approved the first official "colony" of Byzantium Novum: the Colony of "Megalopotamia," which comprises the modern US states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

This is actually a huge step for us. It means we now have enough "citizens on the ground" in one area for them to be within reasonable travel distance of each other so they can gather for group meetings and events! From the start the goal of Byzantium Novum has been to get people together about "things Byzantine" in the physical world as well as online.

Our new nation project has already had one "physical" meeting of citizens in this last year, and the new Colony is an exciting step. Now that we have several new Counts (formally Eparchs) helping to coordinate other areas we will hopefully be able to add other new Colonies over the next few months!

In other news, the Byzantium Novum Chancellery has created an official "handbook" to help our new Counts and other local officers build a Byzantine presence in their local area. Many thanks are due to Senator Baduila Chalkas for creating this project, and Senator Amma Doukaina for her assistance also!

Senator Marcus Audens has also done some great new work on behalf of the Militarium in his Byzantine blog, located at: http://ByzantiumNovumMilitarium.blogspot.com and it is great to see historical research being done here!

In April, Byzantium Novum will begin commemorating the Fall of Constantinople from the siege which lasted from April 6th, 1453 until May 29th, 1453 AD. In May we will also be commemorating the founding of Constantinople, which was officially done on May 11, 330 AD.

May Byzantium Novum and it's Citizens have an active and prosperous Spring!


-Marcus Cassius Julianus
Senate President, Byzantium Novum