I think I will be doing so indeed.
My main concern with going the Byzantine road is that it may look too similar to Marignon/Ulm, and I tend to prefer unique twists to my nations.
That, or I should head for a fully different nation and start tinkering there. Something about a nation with angel blood for example, which would be quite difficult to connect to our history (unless you are willing to label Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange as being actual history, which would be quite a surprise for me. But I do digress).