July 2011 in Britannia Nova

Greetings all,

Well, here is the second post regarding my efforts to get Britannia Nova (New England) active as a Byzantine territory in Byzantium Novum!

As I've mentioned, the goal of all this is to get a living, breathing "Byzantium Novum community" going in New England. Eventually the idea is to have many folks in the New England states participating in "things Byzantine" so we can have real live events and activities.

This month the big effort has been to start posting to the "free" classifieds on the Internet... Craigs List and Backpage. This month I put up ads on both sites for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and also some in Massachusetts.

The result so far? Nothing. Amazingly I'm neither shocked or discouraged with this result... I didn't get them up until the second week of June. AND... it's summertime here. Who's spending their time checking Craig's List for stuff to do? Not many people.

The point really is to get myself in the habit of putting out a regular "Internet Presence" for Brittania Nova as a local Byzantine community. The more folks see the more legitimate and stable this effort will seem. It will also get me into the habit of posting regularly!

I don't really expect to see much Internet response before September around here. The winters in New England go on forever, and summer lasts about fifteen minutes. No need to get discouraged that people are outside in the sun right now!

-Marcus Cassius Julianus

Britannia Nova - Byzantium Novum in New England

Greetings all,

This blog is an experiement of sorts - it will be a step by step account of my attempt to establish a local Byzantium Novum "Byzantine Colony" in New England!

For anyone visiting this blog from outside Byzantium Novum I'll give some background... Byzantium Novum is an international micronation and "sovereignty project" dedicated to the revival of ancient Byzantine civilization and culture.

Our website is www.byzantiumnovum.org. Currently we have Citizens worldwide and maintain several public forums in addition to our website. We are currently working toward establishing local groups so that folks interested in "things Byzantine" can socialize and hold local Byzantine oriented events!

I am currently listed as the "Count" of Britannia Nova. Right at this moment that's all of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massacusetts and Rhode Island!

Hopefully we'll be breaking that up into "North and South" so I'll end up covering a more reasonable territory of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. We'll see, lol.

Trying to get some local Byzantine community set up here is going to be an interesting challenge! Like many people today I'm already way over extended with work and projects, so my time to do this is limited. I also have limited resources to start with. Here's a quick list of them, and my overall situation:

Starting Resources:

Overall mission - to find other folks interested in "Things Byzantine" form an active local community so we can hold local events and have fun with Byzantine culture.

Territory - too much to effectively cover but I'll try! :)

Money - no local treasury but I'm willing to spend a bit out of pocket if needed.

Byzantine Citizens in my state (Maine): three - and I've never met or emailed the other two!

Exposure within Byzantium Novum - This blog, (which will get listed on the main website) and whatever I post to the various Byzantium Novum public lists.

Advertising: Will try to post to free places such as Craig's List, which won't cost money I don't have!

Religious resources - There is a nice Greek Orthodox church in my area. Good connection but I don't intend to "recuit" there directly. I may attend events and have info available later on...


That's it to start! Looks like I've got a big job ahead of me and not much to do it with. My guess is that the other Counts and Countesses in Byzantium Novum are in similar situations. I'll be going through all the "steps to success" I can think of here on this blog... and will try to contact other folks in Byzantium Novum for help and advice as well.

Wish me luck!

-Marcus Cassius Julianus