Tips on playing 867 start as Zoroastrian

The difficulty and uniqueness of playing Zoroastrians makes for interesting games and I thought we should compile a list to make them more accessible for people.

I have not had too much success with the Zoroastrians (I blame rigged dice) and some community outreach would be necessary for this to really get anywhere.

Help and suggestions regarding formatting are also an acceptable contribution that should increase the quality of this list/guide.

#Things to keep in mind

• Holy warring the Shiite Muslims is often doable early on because they won't be piling up on you.
• It's important to keep in mind that Shia and Sunni are different religions with fluctuating strenght. Keep an eye out for weakness!
• You can request concubines from the court of a Zoroastrian ruler or a pagan ruler. Muslims and Christians rulers are opposed to concubines and you must have a woman from their court imprisoned to take her as a concubine.
• Concubines are often important to get an acceptable heir.
• The Turks will show up with a massive army and poweful cassus belli. Being prepared will allow dealing with them faster and will prevent them from rapidly expanding on your lands.
• Building holdings and improvements in holdings are long term investments. When playing amidst large religious enemies as a small realm you're game is more likely to be decided by short term investments, namely mercenaries.

#Things you may want to do (Don't let mere suggestions limit your game)

• You can expand north or south but by expanding north you won't have nearly as many chances to take advantage of the Muslim realms' weak moments. Moving north still allows you to build up your realm before making a real move towards the Persian empire or you might be able to play a safer game if your goal isn't to bring back Zoroastrianism.

#What's next I plan on expanding this a lot still and right now I'm thinking about listing all the options for starting as a Zoroastrian, disregarding ruler designer. I'm not sure if I remember all the Zoroastrian rulers and will have to confirm some some names and locatons before adding them.