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Lol, as a self-professed agnostic evolutionist, I am far more often
characterized as 'wallowing in Evil', rather than as a 'fringe
supporter of Good', but I'll do my best.

Let me start by giving the 8x8 western variant its original name: the Mad
Queen variant. The history of western chess from shatranj to the present
is the story of short range pieces becoming 'infinite' sliders. Thus,
logically, the next change should make the knights into the Gryphon and
anti-Gryphon, or Mage and anti-Mage, or somesuch. One knight steps one
orthogonally, then 1 diagonally outward, where it may stop, as the normal
knight, or it continues on, like a rook, orthogonally outward, in one of
two possible directions. The other knight, for balance, should move in the
opposite manner: one square diagonally, then one square orthogonally
outward, where it may stop, or continue diagonally outward as a bishop.
And in keeping with the changes from shatranj to present, the 2 new
knights must be lame. They are only sliders. You might even allow them the
2-step slide knight move of the other new knight, although the piece would
have to stop on the old knight's destination square, and could not make
an extended move. I propose this as the most logical 'next step' in
chess, based on the known and surmised chess history of turning short
range leapers into long range sliders. Interestingly, it reproduces some
of the Falcon moves, another piece proposed as the logical next step in
chess, with a different movement mechanic.