See what all that talk about switching Sumeria for Israel did, Rhye?
All the sudden all those civs that were offshoots of other civs are obsolete and to be replaced by something better! America? Bah, they're just England in disguise. And the Byzantines are Roman, so they aren't need either! And scrap Japan, they were founded by immigrants from the Korean peninsula. And Korea? No, that's just an offshoot of China. And scrap the Mongols, too, they're practically Chinese as well... (And I don't even want to think about what would happen to the Middle East if the same logic was applied to the Civs there.)
Of all these civ removals that have been tossed around, the only one that seems to hold any water is removing the Byzantines. While yes, it is true that when Rome fell, the Byzantines rose, and they held power in two different time periods, the period between where both Rome and Byzantium stood at once as seperate nations was so small I don't think it even counts as two Civ-turns. While in most other cases, the off-shoot nations warred to get away from their parent nation, the Byzantines didn't. To elaborate, I quote a webpage that says things better than I can:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MA/BYZ.HTM said:
It is not possible to effectually distinguish between the later empire in Rome and the Byzantine empire centered around Constantinople. For the Byzantines were the Roman Empire, not simply a continuation of it in the East. The capital city, Constantinople, had been founded as the capital of Rome by the Emperor Constantine, but a uniquely Greek or Byzantine character to the Roman Empire can be distinguished as early as Diocletian. When Rome was seized by Goths, this was a great blow to the Roman Empire, but it didn't effectively end it. Although Rome was under the control of foreigners who themselves claimed to be continuing the empire, the Byzantine empire continued as before, believing themselves to be the Roman Empire.
When you look at things by a gameplay perspective, the Byzantines would be the ideal civ to remove in order to add a much requested civilization - the Polish. With the Byzantines gone to the south and Poland to the north, the Austrians would expand further south, taking on a much more historical shape than usual, the Greek would expand further north as well, making their shape closer to that of the Macedonia that Alexander knew, and the Ottomans would gain access to the civilization defining region of Istanbul.
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I like it. I've wanted a Poland ever since you said there was going to be a new civ, and I feel that the removal of Byzantium would help this realism of this mod tremendously.
On a completely and utterly unrelated note, did anyone here ever play the Diplomacy: Blood and Iron map on Starcraft? God I loved that map... And I always found it funny how there was a bunker in the Ottoman's territory right where Jerusalem is.
. On a lighter note, I enjoy playing any civ that currently exist, playing some anceint lost civilization doesn't have the same appeal as playing the ones that are alive and well today. I have played and enjoyed them all, but for the sake of roleplaying it's a more believable experience for ME to play an active civilization.
. Though I would rather see a civilization that isn't represented anymore be removed first. But this is where we are at today, and I just love blowing up digitized representations of our current governments! 
