what are chao?
Chao are small, cute, round creatures from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise!
First introduced in Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast, 1998), these fairy-like critters are generally gentle and very social. Commonly, they're a soft teal, with yellow topping the ends of all limbs and their head. With little pink wings and an emotionally influenced dot hovering above their heads, Chao are quite possibly the cutest and most adorable beings to ever be conceived and I will not be taking criticism at this time.
Mainly, Chao occupy areas known as Chao Gardens, which are different in each game where they're able to be raised. Some, like the Hero and Dark Gardens from SA2 have special features that affect any Chao placed inside. But all of them feature pools of water, trees with nuts to sustain them, and plenty of space to move around. You'll never find Chao in dry, waterless areas, as they seem to prefer having fresh sources of water around.
lifespan
All Chao are hatched from eggs, which can feature aspects of their later adult coloring. The prototypical Chao egg is white-shelled with blue polka-dots, slowly turning yellow at the top and hatching when it's spread a little less than halfway down. For eggs that are a solid color, you can more easily tell when they're hatching based on the gentle movement the egg will make moments before.
After hatching, a Chao must learn how to walk, run, swim, and fly; these statistics can be altered with various animals and chaos drives found in-game. The higher the associated skill, the better the Chao is at doing those actions.
Chao also have the ability to evolve in a number of ways! When cared for primarily by Hero characters, Chao are more likely to turn into Hero Chao, which are angelic in appearance. However, if they're cared for by Dark characters, they turn into Dark Chao, which have impish appearances. Sometimes, when the raising is evenly balanced by the two character types, they will become Neutral Chao, which doesn't affect the way they look.
Eventually, as a Chao reaches the end of their life, they slow down and become less active. They will enter a cocoon, and if they were well cared for, they will reincarnate, keeping its appearance and some of it's earned life skills from playing minigames and being given food, animals, and drives. If a chao is always well cared for by the time it reached the end of it's lifespan, it can remain functionally immortal.
If they weren't cared for, though, they will simply pass after the cocoon disappears. Nearby Chao will mourn their friends when this happens.
Very rare Chao, called Chaos Chao, can be evolved from a Chao who has reincarnated at least twice. When all the right criteria are met, a chao will have no further reincarnations, and instead will live forever.
fun links!
Some fun websites about chao!
