Passenger IC Questionnaire

[runs_on_batteries]

[ooc: This is a questionnaire that Tony is handing out to everyone on the train both now and in the future. Please answer them IC. Also, thanks to Kinzie for doing the html.]

Congratulations! You’re now on the Void Train and no, that’s not a band name. This is, for better or worse, a new world for all of us and we’re stuck here. In order to detect patterns in these abductions, I’m conducting a survey. Please answer everything to the best of your ability. If you have any questions about the form please consult whoever is standing next to you other than me, because you should be intelligent enough to answer these very straight forward questions.

Just do it and help us out, asshat.

[ooc: Just fyi, Tony *will* comment on something about your answers when you hand in your answers IC. I've checked with the mod and these can count toward bonus threads, etc.]

<b>Chronology:</b> <br> <b>What’s your name?</b> <b>What species are you?</b> <b>What’s your birthday/ years you’ve been alive?</b> <b>How many years is the average lifespan of your particular species?</b> <b>Year you’re from:</b> <b>How many months in your world’s calendar?</b> <b>How many days in the months?</b> <b>How many hours? Minutes? Seconds?</b> <b>What was happening when you were taken from your time and woke up on the train platform?</b> <b>What were some of the recent big events that have occurred before you woke?</b> <b>If you had not been taken at that point in time, would you still be alive?</b> <br> <b>Technology:</b> <br> <b>What is the most advanced technological device in your world?</b> <b> Is this train something new or are there trains like this in your world?</b> <b>Do you have trains, but not ones that go through the Void?</b> <b>What is a common piece of technology you use regularly?</b> <br> <b>Magic:</b> <br> <b>Does your world use magic? Do you use magic? Is your magic based on a device/ talisman/ lineage/ race?</b> <br> <b>Inventory:</b> <br> <b> What items were in your rucksack upon waking? Specifically, did anything come with you from your home world? If so, what was it?<b>

Two additional questions:

1) Do you have any medical conditions or issues that are being treated by a doctor?

2) Do you have any known allergies or special dietary needs?

** Added Later **

3) Is there anyone from your world here? Were they here before/ after you got here or arrived at the same time?

** This Month's **

4) What special skills do you have, particularly fighting or military skills?

5) Are there any chores on the list you'd be willing to do if someone else finds their assigned chores particularly disdainful? Or can you be bribed to do both?

(And thank Peter for this one)
6) Did anyone from your universe turn up at the train station this time? If so, who?

Comments

[runs_on_batteries]

[If Tony was annoyed with the explanation being lengthy he was having, he was sure showing it strangely. He listens, mostly quietly, except when he had another question or two. This was very new, to have someone who had been dead and come back. That feat was more important now than ever before to the human.]

So how did you do it? How did you come back to life? You don't appear all that 'elven' given the rest of your family here. Is this part of the reason for that or did genetics simply take a holiday when you were born?

[That might have been rude in most contexts, but Tony seemed oblivious to that fact.]

You're probably right that having a forge onboard could lead to a lot more problems than it's worth. If we had access to materials to build a forge, we might have the materials we were planning on building too. We'll really have to wait and see what the next stop is.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And Curufin is quite curious as to why Tony is interested. Most people start yawning when an Elf of the First Age of Arda tries to tell the story of their people, or even any part of it. Tony doesn't yawn. ]

Elves have a special arrangement, I think. We were created to love the Earth, and to love all of the physical world, and we have acute powers of observation, and we never forget anything we've really observed or experienced. When our bodies are gone, they still exist in our love and memory. They exist as images, but as such accurate images that the body can be rebuilt from the blueprints. At least, that is how our sages describe it. My experience was something like that, but it wasn't quite as deliberate. I just held the memory of my body in my mind, and the body seemed to return to existence in a sort of slow explosion, like a star coalescing. Suddenly I was a living being again. It took a number of tries to get it right, but I did.

I suppose I don't look quite as Elven as my father and my brothers do, but I'd guess that's because of the ears. Also, I'm the short one in the family. [ Grin. ] I guess it's something genetic. My grandmother, my father's mother, looked a lot like me. Of course, so does my father, he's got her face, as I do, but he's taller and more pointy-eared.

And as for the forge onboard, I wouldn't want to set fire to the baggage compartment or whatever. Yes, let's see where the next stop is. Actually, all we need to build a forge is a heap of rocks that we can shape and stack into a furnace; some leather or a heavy fabric to sew into a bellows to deliver a lot of oxygen to the fire to make it burn hot; a lot of charcoal or wood to burn for fuel; and of course, some iron to shape, or some iron ore to refine. And of course we need an anvil to beat the hot iron into the desired shapes. I've got a forge hammer and tongs, as I said. We could cast the anvil if we had enough iron and enough time, though that would require a clay mould. Shouldn't be too hard to make one of those, if we find a clay source.

Did you say you were also thinking of finding building materials?

[runs_on_batteries]

[ooc- Love that icon!]

Huh, so this isn't someone else's form? This is your original body just manifested a second time? What happens if your image in your mind is different than your original body? Do you become the perceived image or the accurate one?

[He wonders at that. Part of it sounded very deliberate and other parts not. How were these elves able to do both at the same time?

The remarks on the forge made a lot of sense, all except one.]

As much as I'd enjoy having a furnace or forge on board, without proper ventilation system in place it could cause some very serious problems. That and I don't believe I've seen any clay or charcoal on board.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ ooc: Thanks! And I love all of Tony's icons. ]

It's no one else's form, it is my own. The images of our bodies that persist in the spirit's imagination are accurate to the last detail, so we always manifest the accurate image. But that's an interesting question, one I hadn't thought of. Elves don't have the power to actually change form, though some of us can project an illusion into nearby minds that will fool most minds. The beings that are a step up from the Elves are the Maiar, the servants of the Valar. Both the Valar and the Mair can actually change form, and I wonder if that's how they do it? -- hold an image in their minds that is not their normal manifestation, and manifest the different one. Ah well, that's a digression. I'll never be able to do that.

[ Deliberation and spontaneity are both parts of the creative process, and Elves were also created to be artists. They use both processes liberally! And at the same time. ]

I don't think a furnace on board is a good idea, either. Ventilation would be a real problem, and so would the danger of fire. I'd rather not asphyxiate anybody or burn up a train carriage. I'd have to build the forge on some world we visited and do the forging in a hurry, before we leave that world.

[runs_on_batteries]

[It was getting frustrating that he couldn't get clearer instructions on just how Curufin did all this, but he might just have to accept it wasn't something humans could do. At least, not the humans from his world- not him. No. Nothing was going to save him. It was disappointing to say the least.]

You think it's possible to build a forge and use it all in the time we might be allotted? There was a deadline in our last mission.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin might give it a try, being more specific about how he re-embodied. Also, he isn't completely sure that a mortal couldn't do it. It seemed true of all the mortals he had ever spoken with, that they had been told they were limited in ways that possibly they in fact were not. If Tony needs saving, Curufin will try his best to give any useful information that might help. ]

I don't know. It depends on how much time is allotted. How long did you have on the last mission?

[runs_on_batteries]

We had a week last time, though one example is hardly a good measure of what it'll be every time.

[If they had closer to two weeks or a month, there was no telling what they could accomplish in that amount of time.]

How long does it take to make a forge?

[so_dark_a_road]

It depends on whether I have or could get all the tools and materials I'd need to build it. I could construct it with bricks or rocks, though I'd have to shape the rocks, and i'd have to mix up some kind of cement or mortar. I'd need leather or some very thick, tough fabric, in order to sew a bellows, and I'd need some wood or metal to make the bellows handles. The bellows is used to blow air into the furnace and oxygenate the flame, making it burn very hot. And of course, I'd need fuel. I could burn wood to make charcoal, but that's not as effective as coal.

I work fast, I could build the forge in a week and start making weapons and other implements. But it would be best if we had a couple of weeks or a month, in case I had to scrounge for materials.

And, I should say, I'm sure my father would be in on this project. That might well decrease the time needed.

[runs_on_batteries]

Perhaps he can just glare at the wood and scare them into becoming coal.

[He flashes a grin up at Curufin.]

Well, either way. It's good to know we have that as an option.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He bursts into laughter. ] Perhaps he could. I wouldn't be surprised.

[ Curufin grins back at Tony. ]

It can be organized, if we have the time and the materials are somehow available. Let's see what happens with future missions.