No, it's not, the Turks got at it and now there's nothing left for Byzantium and almost no Armenian culture.
Paradox-OT can be itneresting, but generally it's just Euros and ignorant 13 year old yelling at eachoter about weather Byzantium should be Latin or Orthodox tech group (like me). A lot of idiots there, a lot of bad moderators, and most the fun posters (like Topcat, CountDeMoney and yes, even Jaron) have left in favor of Languish.
1419.....if you want too....I would'nt suggest it, a while before there can be real PtP interaction if we don't all play in the exact same area. Also, a lot of powers won't be there, like Persia, and some that won't form properly, like the Mughals or Manchu.
Jebus, what do you want to play as?