The flower of the East - State of the Persian realm in 1435
The great Shahanshah Melchior I Pahlavi had successfully led wars against two nations. After the fall of the Timurid Empire, he had been liven as an expatriate, a former scribe at the court of the Khan what had converted from Shiite Islam to Zoroastrianism during the last days of the Khagnate. With support from the Byzantine Empire, and especially it's Oriental Orthodox vassal of Armenia, Miaphysite Christians took all of the Empire, divided it into their own kingdoms and left the Timurids to rot in far away Afghanistan, and they were unable to command those lands properly either. Christian warlords seized control and founded their own kingdoms in Khorasan, in Transoxania and in Iraq. The heartlands of Persia itself was torn by religious civil war under an unworthy Shiite Shah, Hamid Esfahani. Inflation sky-rocketed and the regime went bankrupt several times. Not one single period under his regime did he control the entire country, or rather, what was left of it after the Christian dismemberment. Shiites dominated in the south-west, Sunnis in the north-west, Zoroastrians in the north-east and in the center, and Christians in south-east.
It was during these days when the Empress of Byzantium, Livia I Laskaris, turned her emerald imperial eyes upon Melchior. He was a Mhitram (محترم) and thus not considered an "upper" noble, though worthy of holding lands in his name and commanding armies. Even so, he was far by the most talented and well-educated Persian expatriate she had at her court. And he wasn't a muslim. Or a Orientalist Miaphysite Christian. Though Byzantium had supported it's Christian siblings in their quest to dominate the Timurid's former Empire, she had reasons to worry that her Armenian vassals, as defenders of the Orientalist faith, would become too powerful with all the new allies they had gained, and rise up against the Purple Throne of Constantinople. A decent counterforce, and preferably not an Islamic one, was needed. Islam was what had once bought the Empire to her knees, and the islamic world would often leave their internal strife and stand united when attacked. The rebirth of Zoroastrianism in parts of Persia was a thankful thing, and had of course also been supported by the Purple Throne. She approached her guest and gave him a proposal he could not refuse. She would let her armies march upon the city of Astrakhan, a once great city in the hands of the collapsing Golden Horde. The city would be purged and see most of it's population expelled, except the powerful merchants, the Persian minority and a few citizens of Georgian and Armenian heritage. It would be made a safe have for all Zoroastrian Persians, under its Istandar (ﻟمطنـر) to let their culture flourish and to gather their forces to liberate their sacred homeland.
In 1419, Melchior, with massive Byzantine support marched to Armenia with 20 000 fighting men (whom most of them were not of Persian origin) along with a few advisors and society engineers. By Imperial orders the Armenians were to let them pass, whenever they did not like this or not. The army took Teheran within weeks. The people, tired of the endless strife and benevolent leadership welcomed him as their leader. Melchior was crowned Shahanshah, not by a mullah but in a ceremony carried out by a Zoroastrian priest. A Byzantine Catholic priest was also present, who read the salutations of the Byzantine Imperatrix and confirmed him as the divinely approved Emperor of Persia. Melchior confirmed that he was the Imperatrix's friend in his heart and Eastern Rome's stalwart ally.
All was well. Or almost. Due the noble's dislike of him, being "just" a Mhitram, Melchior carried out progressive policies meant to tear the old order upside-down. His rule was to be absolute. He fiercely fought nomandism, serfdom, and Islam and Christianity alike. He started westernising his ancient country, whatever that could mean in the late middle ages. He succeeded in conquering Bahrain from it's Sunni masters and converted back most parts of the Empire to Zoroastrianism. he also managed to unite Astrakhan with the rest of his Empire by conquering the weak tribes of Shirvan. Still, he managed to keep the realm stable by brute force and ordered the economy, centred around Persia's trading capital of Hamadan.
Until his heroic death, that was. In 1432, Persia was invaded by it's Oriental Orthodox neighbours. Armenia, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxania all glomerated their forces to end the Zoroastrian suppression of Oriental Christianity in the land of the Aryans. The Imperatrix of Byzantium proved to be loyal to her friend and ally, but gave him strict orders to not invade Armenia. Melchior did as he was told. Soon, Persian troops had conquered half of Khorasan, but the Transoxanians where a problem, running rampage in the middle of Persia with a large army consisting mostly of cavalry, aided by their Iraqi allies. Turning back to save his own people, Melchior died as a hero when defeating the Transoxanian and Iraqi troops in the battle of Hamadan. His last will was to be succeed by his daughter, Nour, who had proven to be a benevolent but capable young woman, angering traditionaly minded parts of Persian society even more. Thurs started the age of the two roses, when Empresses sat upon both the Persian and Byzantine thrones.
Nour's great diplomatic skills bought both Iraq and Armenia out of the war, with no concessions made on either side. She continued the war on Khorasan and made them kneel to her demands when Persian troops sacked their capital of Herat. Thurs ended the war, and Persia was once again in a worthy state, and the Islamic world had lost one of it's most elegant conquests.
Next, on to Byzantium, the flower of the oriental West!
I welcome you to the first (and so far only) History W(aar)lock – Empires of Old! Version of the Game used is EUIII HTTT Magna Mundi Ultimate 1.26
