I think its too antiquarian to call them the "Romans", and not even the "Byzantines" is appropriate, so I referred to it as Palaiologoi, thought the spelling is a nightmare. Maybe Constantinople -Morea.
But towards the end of the fourteenth century they got a run of good Emperors, which had always been the key to any Byzantine revival. They were making territorial gains, despite being bankrupt. The problem was that they were bankrupt. But they had a shot of continuing to recover if everyone else in the region collapsed. The Ottomans didn't collapse IOTL. Another way would have been to find a reliable Western ally, and this was tried, for which they could have acted as the local regional power, with Aragon/ Apain the best candidate. IOTL Genoa wound up this arrangement, And some of the Emperors tried to do this. But they have to survive long enough to do this.
But towards the end of the fourteenth century they got a run of good Emperors, which had always been the key to any Byzantine revival. They were making territorial gains, despite being bankrupt. The problem was that they were bankrupt. But they had a shot of continuing to recover if everyone else in the region collapsed. The Ottomans didn't collapse IOTL. Another way would have been to find a reliable Western ally, and this was tried, for which they could have acted as the local regional power, with Aragon/ Apain the best candidate. IOTL Genoa wound up this arrangement, And some of the Emperors tried to do this. But they have to survive long enough to do this.