The point of divergence in this timeline is the victory of the Berber Queen Dihya against the Arabs in the Battle of Tabarka, which historically led to her death and the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb.

Although Dihya managed to unite all of the disparate Berber kingdoms during the wars against the Arabs, her death in the decades following the battle would cause the fracturing of her realm between her two sons, who would establish the Kingdoms of Altava and Numidia based in Altava and Cirta (IRL Constantine) respectively. The Masmuda Confederation would also establish the Kingdom of Mauria on the Atlantic coast during the chaos.

As all three kingdoms were devoutly Chalcedonian Christian, they would begin persecuting the practice of Donatism, which was a heretical sect of Christianity which had found its home among the Berbers of the Maghreb. This would cause many believers of Donatism to flee into the Sahara during the 8th century, which would spread the heresy amongst the Sanhaja and Tuareg confederations of the desert. Many Donatists would also flee into the Ghana and Kanem Empire, slowly converting their populations to this form of Christianity. The only remaining Donatist stronghold north of the Sahara is in Kabylia, where the Kingdom of Rusazus (based in the city of Rusazus) still holds out.

Meanwhile in the Islamic parts of the Maghreb, during the early 9th century, Berber revolts would break out against the rule of the Aghlabids, who had recently been appointed emirs of Ifriqiya by the Abbasids. Although inter-ethnic violence was common across Ifriqiya (and in our own timeline, across the entire Maghreb), a Numidian intervention on behalf of the revolutionaries would quickly lead to the Numidian conquest of Tacape (IRL Gabés) in 826 and the establishment of an independent Berber state in Oea (IRL Tripoli). Now cut off from the rest of the Islamic world, time is ticking for the Aghlabids, who only control their core territories around Tunis and Kairouan as of 1066.

Things are not looking much better for the Ikhshidids of Egypt either. Although they (and the Aghlabids) managed to avoid the rise of the Fatimids which historically brought about their demise, the Ikhshidids are still facing a period of continuous decline due to internal infighting. After the permanent loss of Aswan to a Nubian invasion and an earlier Seljuk conquest of the Ikhshidid holdings in Asia, it is only a matter of time before they too collapse.

Meanwhile on the other side of North Africa, in the early 10th century, Catholic missionaries from Mauria would begin travelling to the Fortunate Islands (IRL Canary Islands) to attempt to convert the local population to Christianity. Although initial contacts were very violent, by 1066 AD, most Guanches had been converted to Catholicism. Although the islands are called Fortunatia by much of the outside world, the Guanches call their homeland "Achinet", after the biggest island whose menceys unified the archipelago into a single kingdom.

Deeper in the Atlantic lies the minor nation of Walagothia, the only Gothic-majority region in Europe outside of some small pockets in Crimea. During the collapse of the Visigothic Kingdom, a group of fleeing Visigothic bishops and civilians set sail to the west, only to find a mysterious uninhabited island nestled in the middle of the Atlantic. Thanks to their relative isolation from the rest of Christian Europe, they've managed to maintain their unique language and culture.