I Want to Know About Chocobos

[Anonymoose]

Sorry for the delay moving from EDIT INCOMING to an actual post, I couldn't find a few of my old "tomes" for a few minutes. (Hey, Legacy players, remember that time SE posted an article called My Little Chocobo and there was a mini-riot like, "You cannot possibly be serious," and then they named the Achievement and ARR quest the same thing? Ellllll ohhhhhh ellllll.)

By the way, I love requests like these. I never know what information to prioritize collecting and this helps me focus on a specific for a bit; it's nice.

So tell me, what is there to know about Chocobos?

I'm sure you know the basics - they're generally yellow and flightless (with some notable exceptions). The naturally black ones are known for their capacity for flight. Certain foods will change the pigments in their feathers. They're generally mild-tempered, but are fierce fighters that can shred your skin to the bone with their talons. Etc. etc. etc.

When Version 1.0 was released, many mechanics were far from complete. Travel via chocobos was not possible (airships, either), so SE needed to come up with explanations. "Decades" before 1572, a blight struck the realm's chocobo population, causing Ishgard (having always been at the forefront of the chocobo trade) to impose incredibly harsh restrictions on importing the birds. Finding a female bird outside of the Holy See was nigh-on impossible, and city-states rigidly controlled the use of the males they could get. Usually, you'd find them leading carriages and transporting goods, but certain people were allowed to rent them as personal mounts. As the chocobo population became sustainable again, around 1572, Ishgard relaxed import restrictions but refused to relinquish their grasp on what was now essentially an unchallenged monopoly. Female birds were still incredibly rare outside the Holy See and even the Grand Companies were only allowed to purchase, not breed, them. By this time, even adventurers and commonfolk could freely rent chocobos, however. Even the "foreign" units of the Companies, comprised of adventurers, were sanctioned to receive personal chocobos.

As of ARR, we know that chocobos are captured from Dravania by hunters and bought by Ishgard, who domesticate and breed them. Though they're known for incredible stamina and speed, they're as famous for their stink as they are their (usually) mild temperament. Unless you've known chocobos as a means of transportation your entire life, that aroma is going to hit you like a shield bash - it's a lot to get used to.

A vast majority of the domesticated chocobos in Eorzea can be traced back to modern Coerthan stock, but there are supposedly plenty of wild ones throughout Abalatha's Spine's unexplored valleys - perhaps not just the Dravanian forelands. Ishgard's monopoly, however, is no longer sustainable. The harsh cold that has overtaken Coerthas caused many of the chocobos that weren't housed in stables to flee into the Twelveswood, with Moogle's Gift Mounts eventually arising from the situation, giving them a home and beginning an era of Gridanian chocobo breeding.

Part of my main's backstory is that he comes from a long line of chocobo breeders from a forgotten corner of Eorzea. Lore-breaking-ness of that aside<...>

As long as your family wasn't supposedly running region-famous stables capable of saddling a full local militia, it's not the most lore-breaking thing I've heard an RPer come up with by a long shot; you'll probably be able to make it work within a few boundaries.

What "forgotten corner" of Eorzea is your character from, do you know? North/south? East/west?