The first Bulgarian Empire was founded in the late 600s by the turkic Bulghars and for the first two hundred years or so of its existence it remained Pagan and worshiped the turkic god of the sky (Tangra in Turkic Bulgarian), while the slavic religion of the peasantry remained in place as well. However, after those first two hundred years, the Bulgarian kings were converted the Eastern Orthodox Christianity. But what if Bulgaria never converted to Christianity, or at the very least converted way later? How could that happen?
If the pagan kings of Bulgaria had a more violent stance toward Christian missionaries than they did IOTL, they could have possibly held off conversion for longer. What if the Siege of Constantinople in 717 went differently and was more beneficial for the Arab armies (not necessarily with them conquering Constantinople, that's not really feasible with the technology of the time, but at the very least way worse for the Eastern Romans), could that have led to less Roman efforts at conversion with their northern neighbor?
The Khaganate of the Khazars also existed at this point in time, and if the Bulgarian Empire retained their elite worshiping the sky god, could that have led to the Khazars retaining their Turkic religion and not converting to Judaism?
If the pagan religions of the Turkic Bulghar elite as well as the Slavic pagan religion stayed in Bulgaria, could Bulgaria become much more turkified than it is IOTL?
If the pagan kings of Bulgaria had a more violent stance toward Christian missionaries than they did IOTL, they could have possibly held off conversion for longer. What if the Siege of Constantinople in 717 went differently and was more beneficial for the Arab armies (not necessarily with them conquering Constantinople, that's not really feasible with the technology of the time, but at the very least way worse for the Eastern Romans), could that have led to less Roman efforts at conversion with their northern neighbor?
The Khaganate of the Khazars also existed at this point in time, and if the Bulgarian Empire retained their elite worshiping the sky god, could that have led to the Khazars retaining their Turkic religion and not converting to Judaism?
If the pagan religions of the Turkic Bulghar elite as well as the Slavic pagan religion stayed in Bulgaria, could Bulgaria become much more turkified than it is IOTL?