So here are screenshots of my current Zoroastrian/Bavandid Restoration campaign. The Priest of Priests isn't bugged in this playthrough and is successfully launching great holy wars, and allowing me to join in on them.
Persia
There's only one part of Persia that is stopping Shahanshah Zand 'the Wise' from becoming the Shaoshyant, and that would be Fergana in Samarkand. I'll explain that in a later picture. The Bavandids started out as the loyal spymasters of the Abbasid Caliph...well as loyal a as a spymaster can really be. Emir Mahmud Bavandid, the grandson of Sorkhab, was loyal to the Caliphate even after the first decadence revolt took over, but he was loyal in name only since he continuously expanded within the Empire to form the Sultanate of Persia (as well as becoming a werewolf as shown in the other screenshots). His grandson, Shah Jahanshah, would show his loyalties to the Taji Caliphate by using the Bavandid families vast fortune to hire mercenaries to combat any further decadence revolts, but in turn he would be unable to stop his own families decadence which kept him from expanding his influence outside of de jure Persia. He would die at age 68 in battle during a revolt against his supposed tyranny, as he had been in the process of imprisoning a decadent family member. His son, Shah Khosrau, would declare independence from the Caliphate and convert back to Zoroastrianism before going on a very aggressive campaign to reform the Persian Empire. Like his father, he would die in battle but against the Muslim Zunbil dynasty of Afghanistan. His grandson, Jahanshah II, would finally reform the Persian Empire, but would later die of an infected wound after being wounded in a battle with Khagan Vakrim the Impaler of Khazaria (I really hate that guy).
Europe
For once Charlemagne succeeded in forming Francia, unfortunately he died in battle immediately after. The Empire still runs with gavelkind succession, but has remained stable for over two hundred years. I really have no idea how. The Umayyad's ended up fractured when the Shia Caliph reared his head in Hispania. Hispania would be lost to him, but one branch of the Umayyad's would end up converting and seizing the Caliphate in a bloody civil war before seizing the Sultanate of Africa. The Ummayad's of Maurentia stayed Sunni and would successfully stay separate.
Francia began an aggressive campaign to seize Spain, and was initially successful before being pushed back by a Shia Jihad. The jihad's success was short lived since the Pope almost immediately called for a crusade for Andalusia which was won by Francia leading to the "death" of the Shia Caliph.
A closer look at Greece and Byzantium.
The Byzantine Empire was delivered a jarring defeat by the Khan of Bulgaria while also struggling to defend Armenia from the Abbasid Caliph. The Empire ended up clinging on for dear life in northern Anatolia, Armenia, and Georgia. The Empire would eventually stage a come back by reaquiring much of Anatolia and Armenia, but they were never able to reacquire the rest of Greece. At 900 the Pope called for a Crusade on Greece, targeting the territory held by the Bulgarians. The crusade was successful an independent count in Sicily (no idea) captured Constantinople and formed the kingdom of Greece. Unfortunately, he would be besieged by the pagans of Serbia who took all of modern Greece. The Isauros family was then able to stage a number of claims to regain Constantinople and most of the Duchy of Thrace before a crusade was called on the Serbians.
Khazaria.
The current nemesis of the Bavandids. Khazaria continues to be the dominant factor in the Eurasian steppes, Russia, Perm, and Ruthenia. They currently hold the county of Fergana, and have successfully defended against three separate wars to claim it. Shahanshah Jahanshah has launched two failed wars for the county, and by doing so he has bankrupted the Empire. The vast stores of money built up by his ancestors went to waste due to the resilience of Khagan Vakrim the Impaler. The Khagan drove Jahanshah's father to suicide, and continues to successfully frustrate the seventy two year old Shahanshah.
Scandinavia.
I really have no idea what happened here. All I know is that Bohemia is no longer "de jure" in Bohemia, but is instead de jure in Norway.
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