November Release Preview

Get this collection when you Subscribe in the month of November! Use the discount code COBRATHANGS to get 50% off for 3 months with a 3 month commitment. You'll also get a 50% off discount on other models in our store ✨

November's Collection takes us to the city of Jebel Irhoud, a massive, bustling city-state built by the power of the numerous Guilds that operate within. This time we're introducing the Usurer's Guild, the people who control the flow of money in Jebel Irhoud. Though none of the Guilds can claim to have clean hands, none are more hated by commoners and nobles alike than the Usurers. Their predatory loans, stranglehold on banking, and ruthless business tactics have reduced many to indentured servitude to the Guild, all while amassing power and money under their banner. Some in the Guild have called for more restraint, as too much greed could cause unpleasant side effects like armed conflict, or societal collapse. Already, lower ranking Guild members who can't afford private bodyguards are hiding their faces to avoid being recognized in public. However, there are many members who don't feel that the rules should apply to them. Take Aziza al-Qadiri, for example, a successful Muqarid lender who made an enemy of the Mortuary Guild, extorting a forbidden undead mount from them in exchange for a massive debt incurred by a high ranking member. While this will surely have dire consequences later, she continues to flaunt her trophy on every outing, accompanied by her various attendants, celebrity mercenary bodyguards Diyha and Dahna, as well as some of her indentured Debtors (kept in line by Shadid, Usurer Overseer).

This month's fantastic bases and terrain pack was sculpted by Kittifizz and Calrais as usual, with concept art by Paul Ferret. We also have 4 great throwbacks showing off some of our most popular societies, the Noctuoidea mothfolk, the YuanYang ducks, and the HIkiga frog ogres.

Stats created by Conflux Creatures are being reviewed and formatted still, but what we have available can be found in the Patron Download Links post that will be posted tomorrow afternoon.

If you're interested in knowing more about the Taforalt Desert and the City of Jebel Irhoud, check out the lore in the CobraCompendium: https://bit.ly/3om6snO

There is a listing of all the models and collections at the end, but I think the easier way is to look through our https://shop.cobramode.com store, which shows all of the collection graphics by year.

Here's this month's lore:

The Usurer’s Guild

All things money and loan-related belong to the Usurer’s Guild. They handle the creation and standardization of currency, along with its release and flow. Perhaps the most powerful of all the Guilds in Jebel Irhoud, the Usurer’s Guild is typically kept in check by alliances between the others. Their lower ranking members often hide their faces to avoid being recognized, as the Usurer’s are not a well-liked organization. Many are the victims of their loan services, and those who cannot repay their loans with gold must enter into indentured service. Higher ranking members gather these indentured servants like trophies, adding them to their entourages to flaunt their wealth and status. The higher the ranking, the more ostentatious the entourages become, often including mixes of hired guards, lower ranking guildspeople, exotic creatures, and debtors. 

Dihya & Dahna - Taforalt Mercenaries

The famous sisters, Dihya and Dahna, made their names on merchant trading ships out in the southern seas on the way to Boondaburra. It’s been said that the two have fought a hundred battles with pirates, brigands, and other unsavory types, and always come out on top. Whether that’s true or not, the two are tough as nails and intimidating enough to drive away most miscreants with one look. Their fame most recently put them into the lucrative employ of a high ranking Usurer Guildsperson. Normally guarding work like this would be considered a cushy retirement job, but the Usurer’s are rather controversial figures in Jebel Irhoud, and don’t find many friends amongst the common folk. Dihya & Dahna are likely to have their work cut out for them for the length of their contract.

Shadid - Usurer Overseer

Within the Usurer’s Guild, there are many roles to play. Shadid, for example, is an Overseer who manages the Debtors who owe money to the Guild and fall into indentured servitude. A sort of middle manager, he keeps the Debtors in line and on task, herding and guiding them according to the whims of whomever their debt belongs to. Gently, of course. Shadid vehemently insists that the club is merely for show, as is his intimidating demeanor. As with many lower ranking Guild members, Shadid hides his features in public to avoid being easily recognized. 

Debtors

Stripped of identifying features, the debtors, male and female, must all uniformly wear the loincloth and long gilet, and shave their heads. A coin impressed into their foreheads and a metal collar carry the mark and station of the Guild member they belong to; gold and jewels adorn those belonging to the highest ranking members. In theory, Debtors work away the debts they’ve incurred to the Guild and can leave once the debt is repaid. In practice however, once one becomes an official Debtor, there is almost no way to escape. The vast majority of Debtors spend the rest of their lives indentured to the Usurer’s Guild through a mix of rapidly compounding interest, food and boarding fees, and other less-than-scrupulous mechanisms. 

Aziza al-Qadiri - Usurer Muqarid

The Muqarid are the lenders in the Usurer’s Guild, of which there are many levels. The most successful, and often ruthless, rise to the top of the ranks and get special privileges, taking lower ranking members under their wing and managing them. Like all Usurer’s, Aziza likes to flaunt her wealth, though she does it somewhat more subtly than some. She is of an upper-middle rank, and besides the usual entourage of debtors, bodyguards, and attendants, she also has a unique mount. She rides an undead Arzumat, a long-extinct creature that has been reanimated and reconstructed by the Mortuary Guild at great cost. The distinct death mask of her mount marks it as an undead creature whose soul is bound to its flesh, obedient to its master until a Mortuary Guildsperson releases it. Aziza is famed for having extorted this forbidden creature from the Mortuary Guild, a mark of her incredible acumen (or cunning, depending on who you ask).