Chocobo

Cryptologic Name: Chocobo chocobo
Planar Origin: Crystalis
Habitat: Primarily meadowlands
Diet: Herbivorous

Appearance & Morphology
The chocobo is a large, flightless, brightly-plumed bird with long, powerful legs, a large head, and a broad, hooked beak. Unlike most birds, chocobos only have 3 toes on each foot, with two facing forward and one facing back. Their tail feathers stick up from their rear, similar to a chicken’s, and they develop a feathered crest on their heads in their adolescence. Chocobo chicks resemble baby chickens in shape and color, but their necks elongate as they age. Chocobos come in a variety of colors including yellow, red, blue, green, black, white, pink, and gold.

Magical Abilities
Chocobos have a variety of magical abilities that seem to be tied directly to their plumage color. Despite this, they are still recognized as a single species because the color morphs are not biologically separate, and can interbreed freely.

• Yellow chocobos are the most common breed, and in so far as we are aware, do not posess any outward magical abilities.

• Red chocobos are known to breath fire, but only after eating a particular vegetable known as krakka greens (native to Crystalis). Cryptozoologists have come to discover that red chocobos have glands in their throats which release an alchemical solution that, when combined with stomach gasses produced from digesting krakka greens, will ignite when exposed to the air. So I suppose it is more appropriate to say that red chocobos can belch fire after eating their favorite meal. Regardless, it makes for an effective defense mechanism.

• Green chocobos are most at home in the mountains, as they are expert climbers, even outpacing the Ibex due to the magic in their talons that allows them to walk on any surface as though it were flat ground. This incredible magic even allows them to traverse overhangs or walk on flat ceilings. However, the extent of their magic only applies to their own body, meaning that you’ll still likely fall off a green chocobo you’re riding if it decides to take a stroll onto the ceiling, unless you’re holding on very tightly.

• Blue chocobos, much like the green morphs, have a special magic in their talons which allows them to traverse special surfaces. In the case of blue chocobos, they can walk on the surface of water.

• Black chocobos are known to move at incredible speeds, far beyond what any creature could achieve by nonmagical means. We believe that black chocobos can actually manipulate time within themselves, which is the root of this ability. Much like their green counterparts, this magic applies only to themselves, and riding a black chocobo when it’s using its abilities can be dangerous if not properly prepared.

• White chocobos are known to have healing powers associated with their cries. When a white chocobo sings, it greatly speeds up the natural regeneration process in living creatures around it, meaning wounds will quickly heal.

• Pink chocobos are similar to their white kin in that they possess restorative powers, however their magic is centered more around expelling toxins. This can be quite useful when dealing with highly venomous creatures, both magical and otherwise.

• Gold chocobos are the rarest and most powerful variety of chocobo, possessing all of the natural magical abilities of the spectrum of their kin. As such, they are highly sought-after in their native realm.

Behavior
Wild chocobos form roaming flocks, much like herds of wild horses. There is some social structure to these flocks but no strict hierarchy. Chicks are raised primarily by their mothers, though flocks are generally very protective of any young, regardless of parentage.

Chocobos are highly intelligent animals and take well to training. Given their physical prowess and capacity to learn, chocobos are often used in a similar capacity to horses on their native plane as a mode of transportation, either being ridden or used to draw carts and other vehicles.

Field Notes

• C. chocobo, referred to as the “common chocobo,” is not the only species of chocobo, but it is the most commonly seen amongst the disparate worlds on the plane of Crystalis. There are two other known species in the chocobo genus: C. rotunda is often called the “chubby chocobo” as it is much heftier than the common chocobo and C. voluns, the “sky chocobo,” which is the only species capable of light.