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Thank you for the comments, HG, zzo38, and sairjohn. I actually think you're all essentially right in your comments. I did set out to change the nature of shatranj, to give it a modern flow, but without the modern style of game. I think I've come pretty close. 

HG, in our discussions of promotion and/as a geographic objective, I've come to see your point of view about the subject. I concede the initial point that the potential promotion to rook or even commoner changes the basic nature of the game - but where and how? Certainly not in the opening; no piece moves faster or farther than it ever did. The pieces are as slow, but move to more places. What I've done for moves is just remove one binding each from the alfil and the ferz. Yes, it changes the character of the game, because all the pieces are now deadly - like the modern game. 

This applies, of course, just to the R(ook) version. The D version was a retrofit, with the WD (warmachine, or Betza's woody rook) first used by me in Great Shatranj with good results, and added as an option to MS since it did work well in GtS. Sairjohn, your comment mirrors my thinking when I designed Great Shatranj and Grand Shatranj, rather than Modern. But while the warmachine is slow and awkward, it can mate in a K vs. K + WD. 

And I think the use of short range rook analogs mitigates the increased power and influence of promotion in the game. I will note that in all 3 games, the power of the pawn is significant, and they become something more than speed bumps, unlike in FIDE. 

I grant I've considerably changed the game, more by promotion than anything else, but would anyone really want to bring promotion back to only the ferz? The original shatranj must have been a rather drawish game, as it plays that way now.