Well, it finally happened. A Catholic crusade for Greece was called in 1114 with the hopes of reclaiming land from the Sunni caliphate. Then a war started within to remove the caliph from the throne, and despite my fefusal to join, actually won. Then when the new caliph took over, I had a choice. I could either stay in the empire… or take my freedom. I chose the latter, and Persia was at long last restored. The fall of the new emperor did not take long(20 years dealing with internal wars, a stagnating crusade, and the stress finally killed him), and when he died, I saw that I could press a weak claim on the new child emperor. I knew I had to take this shot while the crusade still lasted, even though it posed a risk to the Sunni moral authority. After a couple of years of sieging down his holdings, I had accumulated 100% war score and saw that the Catholics had 80% warscore (exactly what they had 2 years ago!). Finally, I took matters into my own hands, usurped the empire and caliphate, and fought for seven years to bring the crusade to 100% warscore and teach the infidels a lesson. Now I control the Persian empire, the Abbasids empire, the kingdoms of Georgia, Alania, and Sindhi, and I'm the caliph. Unfortunately, I have like 76% threat and virtually everyone in the known world will join in a war against me if I'm the aggressor.
Also, I think this was the longest crusade I've ever seen. It started in 1114 and ended in 1143! 29 years!(if only it were thirty). 2 Popes died of old age during it and 4 different caliphs fought in it, as well as a fifth contributing troops (vassal Shi'a caliph)!