A simple posed Calidius for his mandatory reference sheet update over on #EmpiresBeforeClans. He's my awesome Ice Empire gladiator who's mates with =stray-thought's Ceres <33

;A; This is the first thing I've been able to sit down and finish after everything that happened last week. It's simple but it felt so nice being able to concentrate enough to work on artwork again. Hopefully over the next few days, I'll be able to clear out the amount of stuff I've let pile up and get some more artwork finished. c: You've all been awesome for waiting on me btw! Thank you

~~~~~

_{Calidius, EBC, and art © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 3-5 hours
Character:}

Meet Aries, my fourth and final character for #EmpiresBeforeClans!

Now come on? You didn't expect me to NOT make a cheetah character for my own group, did you? I really didn't want to make her a king cheetah, since everyone made their cheetah characters king cheetahs, but it was the only thing that really worked with her design. I'm really happy with the way she turned out though. <33

Everything you need to know about her should be on her application/ref sheet, which I'll finish updating after I sleep! D:

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<sub>Aries and EBC © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 5 hours
Characters: Aries of Shadow Empire


For</sub>

Valon in his basic armor for the mandatory ref sheet update, which you can see here now:


;A; You guys don't know how attached I've gotten to Valon's character. He's up there with Kasa and Manjy now. <33 Secret santa's this year are going to be all him and Kasa, I just know. xDD

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<sub>Valon, EBC, and art © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 4-5 hours
Photoshop

For</sub>

Another new EBC character! His name's Ryusei and he'll be a cub of Fire Empire. I won't ramble on a ton of stuff about him right now but you can always go read his profile if you're super interested.

This art is a couple months old~ I think I drew this back in September so it's not new. c: I'll have new art up in the few days hopefully. School's been a pain now that we're nearing the end of the semester.

~~~~~

<sub>Ryusei, art, EBC © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 -2012
Character:


For</sub>

Valon sat quietly on the night chilled rock, lifting his head to point his whiskers into the western breeze that tickled his fur. He heard his mate softly shift her paws as she settled down just behind him, her face turned in the direction of the rising sun. There the two servals sat in silence for several moments before the leader finally spoke.

"You know what they say, right? Red skies in the morning, felines take warning. Change is on the way." Valon paused and glanced up at a golden cloud, "I have a feeling it's more than just the weather this time."

~~

Valon's assignment for this month. Scouting good hunting spots is important and since Air Empire is full of high rocks that provide good vantage points, Air cats scout often. So here's Valon and his mate Avita scouting the early morning to decide which way their hunting patrol should travel later in the day. However, Valon seems to have a lot that's on his mind.

This also kinda goes along with a picture Dapple gave me a few weeks back. (which you guys should totally check out btw. <3 It's sweet)

And sorry for the lack of art btw~ I always get this weird artblock right after I go back to school every year! D|

~~~
<sub>Valon, EBC © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Avita © ~DappledSun
Time: 10-12 hours
Characters:


For
+15EP</sub>

<sub>Valon leaped from rock to rock, his claws scrapping on their hard surface, until he had managed to climb to the top of the tallest stone. He sat and took a moment to adjust the bright red scarf around his neck before he slowly lifted his head to the sky. "Nothing's changed here. Fishing Stones are still the same." the serval sighed, "I wish I could say the same for our Empire."

Valon paused, admiring the fluffiness of the clouds as they rushed by above, before he whispered to himself again, "Things have more than changed since you left, Azra. Air Empire is nothing like is was. A lot of the old members are gone now, but we've gained a lot of new gladiators and apprentices too...all of the Empires are getting back on their paws actually."

"I'm still keeping your promise. As long as we're all together under one sky, we'll keep fighting against the Bounty Hunters." Valon closed his eyes to let a brief gust of wind blow his scarf before he glanced back at the sky and smiled.

"You'd be pretty proud."</sub>

---

Valon spending his time at Fishing Stones during a patrol reminiscing about the past. When Valon first joined Air Empire, the first place he was asked to venture to was Fishing Stones. It'd only make sense that he'd get a little caught up with himself, especially since everything's changed so much over the past few seasons.

It's also been a pretty common theme around EBC all of a sudden to draw your character with their Empire's elements. Valon's from Air so...clouds! BD

Dapple, I swear I was going to include Avita here but she just didn't fit the way I had the composition going. I'll have to draw a cute pic of her and Valon together to make up for it, I guess! <3

_{+14EP!
Azra was Air Empire's original leader btw!}

~~~~~

<sub>Valon and art © Firestar // KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 5-6 hours
Character:


For</sub>

<sub>Marcellus slowly edged his way through the tall grasses of Lightning Empire's northern territories, keeping his body as close to the ground as he could manage. The scent of rabbit drifted tantalizingly across every breeze until finally the young caracal spotted his gray furred target. He stopped and readied his paws for the pounce, one he knew needed to be fast for such quick prey.

As Marcellus waited for just the right moment, the words of his mentor echoed through his head; "Today's your solo hunt, Marcellus. You either pass or fail your hunting training depending on your actions today. Use everything I've taught you." The caracal's whiskers bristled with excitement. He wanted nothing more than to become a Lightning Empire gladiator and completing this would put him one step closer.

He was not going to miss this time!</sub>

---

...and he didn't because now Marcellus is done with his hunting training!

Still fighting art block. Gah, I have had no inspiration what so ever to sit down and draw lately. :/ Sorry guys. I have a couple full picture commissions that I know I need to get to so I decided to do something with a quick background to get me back into the mood of doing full pics, then this happened. x3

Yes, I did draw/ink/color every single blade of grass here. xD A looot of work but I like the effect better.

~~~~~
<sup>Marcellus and art © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 6-7 hours
Character: Marcellus; apprentice for Lightning Empire; caracal


For</sup>

With me already back in school having to do homework again, I truly feel like summer is over, even if the weather outside doesn't show it. Don't get me wrong! I like fall with all the leaves changing colors and stuff. It's just, I could live in summer forever and I always hate when it's over. </3

This was also inspired by *kitchiki's recent vent piece too. [link] Ugh, her and I are pretty much feeling the exact same atm. :/ I had an issue at school where my college adviser pretty much forced me to drop a class I was really looking forward so I could take one I apparently needed for my major. This class was the only one I was really eager to take this semester too. I was not happy and I'm still not.

Anyway, here's a Kasa.

~~~~~

_{Kasa and art © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 2-3 hours
Character: Kasa cheetah}

Valon's assignment for June/July! The Air Empire leader gathered up several apprentices accompanied by a couple gladiators and went out for a quick training session. Valon's obviously showing off his fighting techniques during a sparring match between him and Jace, hoping the young cats will learn something in the process.

What a lot of felines don't know is that Valon was the master of defeating opponents a lot larger than him back during his days in the Coliseum. He was trained to be a self reliant, ruthless killer and earned his owner a lot of gold by being so. He's certainly not as blood thirsty now, especially since he's Air Empire leader and all, though it's been extremely hard for him to abandon all the habits he learned by being a prized fighter.

After a long while of being kept in check, these traits are just now starting to resurface during the current rps, making several cats really suspicious of Valon and his motives.

- -

Ugh, this was one of those pictures where the more I worked on it, the more and more I didn't like it. D| I'm not sure why! alkdjkf but Valon's assignment it done and I can move onto more commissions now. c:

~~~~~

<sub>Benga © ~Jaggedyanne
Marius © *Moonlight-Catty
Apollo © ~XxSoaringHeartxX
Nairo © ~Skylerra
Jace © ~Hawkrend
Valon, EBC, and art © Firestar // =KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 10-12 hours
Characters:


For</sub>

T_T I'm sorry for the lack of new art recently. It's been one of those "omg everything's due!!" kinda weeks at school and it probably let up until middle of next week. Restarting EBC has taken a lot of work lately too.

Anyway! Updated reference for Marcellus, my caracal apprentice of Lightning Empire. <3 He's adorable.

_{#EmpiresBeforeClans still has a ton of spots open for new members. We're also planning our first group wide assignments too, so if you're thinking about joining, you'll have until next week to get your character up to join in those.}

~~~~~

<sub>Marcellus and art © Firestar // KaiserTiger 2007 - 2012
Time: 3 hours?
Character:


For:</sub>