#003 - Questions & Answers

[kryptonian]

So I’ve been here for about two weeks and I have some questions, after exploring a lot and talking to people. This is going to be pretty long, so if you’re flipping numerous pages in the journal, I’m sorry. (But I’m not actually sorry.)


General

1. How long has the oldest resident been here? The resident that has been here the longest.
2. What’s the shortest anyone ever stayed?
3. Who has been here the most times? I’ve apparently been here four times, and I do not like it.
4. Why are so many people here from Earth?
5. How come some people come back with memories and some don’t?
6. How many people here have come back with memories? How common is it??
7. What’s the most people that was ever here at one time?
8. What’s the craziest reaction someone ever had to coming to Paradisa?
9. What have people tried to get out?
10. How do you know time stops back home while we’re here?
11. How many different universes exist here?
12. Do some of you really come from such, uh... unadvanced worlds?
13. To people who aren’t from the 21st century: how confused are you?
14. Are some people here the only people from their worlds? Like, has never met anyone they know, or comes from some sort of “anomaly” universe?
15. How many people have met people they know, but are actually from other universes?
16. If we don’t age, does hair grow? Fingernails? Periods??

Death

1. When you die, what happens? Does it effect the timeline?
2. How often does it happen?
3. If people don’t stay dead, are you guys cool with murder or is it still wrong? (It’s not cool.)

Journals

1. Why do liquids come through?
2. Why do people bother using them? Can’t we stop using them and instead all get laptops or something? I have never written so much in my life, if it were possible, I would have carpal tunnel already.

“Price Losses”

1. What do people lose?
2. If you lose a memory, are you aware that you lost that memory, or is it like nothing ever happened?
3. If you lose an ability, what happens if you try to do it anyway?
4. What is the weirdest loss ever? The worst?
5. Do we KNOW that it’s a price we pay for being here, or is that just an assumption? (And you know what they say about assumptions... Or you should, anyway.)
6. Why does the castle pick what it picks?

“Temporary Losses”

1. Why do we even call these “losses”? I feel like that’s a little dishonest, from what I’ve seen and read about, some of these aren’t losses so much as “everything going crazy.”
2. What’s the extent of what can happen? Basically, what HASN’T Paradisa done, where does it draw lines?
3. What’s the point? I get the “draws emotional power, we’re batteries” thing but why does it pick what it does?
4. What’s the longest one ever lasted?
5. Is there a way to stop them early?

The Building?

1. I’ve been looking at the way the wires and vents are, and nothing really matches up. Nothing makes sense. Do we know anything else about that? Everything goes down to the ground, has anyone tried going under the castle?
2. Why do so many people hang out on the roof?
3. Is the laundry room sponsored by Tide? That’s so confusing to me, you have no idea.

Insolitus

1. What do we know about the abandoned room in there?
2. Has anyone tried to map it? I know it seems to change, but is there any sort of pattern, to it? Does Tunnel B go left only on a Monday, that kind of thing?
3. Has anyone ever gotten lost in there to the point where they couldn’t be rescued?
4. Has anyone tried drilling or breaking through walls in there? I guess what I’m asking here is does it “match up” with other parts of the maze, or does everything exist on different planes of whatever? I haven’t been able to figure it out.

Outside of Paradisa?

1. Why don’t people go out there more often?
2. Is there anyone out there?
3. Are there no other cities?
4. I don’t know much about city building, but it’s kinda weird to me that they can have a whole city with no trade or anything. Do the people in the city ever get shipments or whatever?
5. Why are there all these random abandoned warehouse type things when the city is pretty Dark Ages? Or Medieval Times? Or Renaissance? I don’t know the difference. If someone can explain that, that’d be great.
6. How far have people travelled?
7. Do we have a map?
8. Why don’t we have powers out there? Does Paradisa do that?

Misc.

1. Why is there a garage full of cars and other vehicles if this place doesn’t have any roads meant for cars?
2. What’s that big orange crystal on the lawn? I, as a rule, don’t go near random coloured crystals.
3. What’s the biggest mystery you want an answer to? Having only been here two weeks, I can’t even imagine what I don’t know.
4. Tell me something cool about the castle that I maybe haven’t thought of.

Thanks!
Kara

Comments

written;

[20thcentury]

The wires aren't attached to anything, but they're functional; the electricity still feeds into lights, appliances, etc. There just doesn't seem to be a source. Supposedly the castle provides the electricity itself through 'magic,' which isn't a very good explanation but it's the only one we've got.

written

[kryptonian]

Okay, so do we have any ideas of where it might come from? Like I said, has anyone gone down to the source?

written

[20thcentury]

There's no source to go to. They just stop after a certain point.

[whichwayyoulean]

[Once-ler will helpfully paste a picture in the journal, something to answer all your questions:]

[kryptonian]

That is totally useless.

[ino]

[TRYING NOT TO LAUGH.]

[huntersdaughter]

[Kara, Jo really likes this list of questions. She's not sure she can answer all of them, but she's going to try. She's also going to write down her answers, so that she can think about it as she goes.]

Who has been here the most times? I’ve apparently been here four times, and I do not like it.
Dean Winchester has been here five times that I've known of.

Why are so many people here from Earth?
I'm not sure anyone will be able to answer this, but judging by the holidays that get celebrated or at least prepared for, the castle is most familiar with Earth traditions and so it has the best chance of keeping those people happy.

How do you know time stops back home while we’re here?
Not everyone believes this is what happens. Considering I'm dead, I know that time can't have stopped for me. There's nothing for me to return to, no moment for time to start back up again. I think, the castle is powerful enough to pull us out and put us back in the same second in time. That way time doesn't stop at all, it's just a matter of re-inserting you back into your own timeline without any time passing. I'm sure there are time travelers or scientists that can explain my theory better, but I don't think it stops at all, because there are people here from different points of time. That's a lot of time to freeze.

If we don’t age, does hair grow? Fingernails? Periods??
This actually seems to change from person to person. Our bodies continue to grow hair and such even when we're dead, so I don't think it's a matter of our bodies not aging, but that there are certain things that have to happen to keep a certain level of sanity. Not everyone has their menstral cycle, others do. Some people can grow facial hair - I personally shave my legs - but then others don't. I think it is more a level of your own comfort level with the castle and how much you're willing to allow its magic - or whatever it is - take care of you.

When you die, what happens? Does it effect the timeline?
I'm assuming you mean in the castle. It doesn't seem to change anything with the timeline here. The people die, the bodies used to vanish, but now they stay behind. We're not sure why that changed, maybe the castle was adapting to our need to grieve.

How often does it happen?
Not too often. Even with all of the insane things that happen, there are people who have advanced medical knowledge or the ability to heal with special powers - there are probably more close calls than actual deaths.

If people don’t stay dead, are you guys cool with murder or is it still wrong? (It’s not cool.)
Murder is murder. Regardless of them coming back after two weeks. It's difficult to punish people for it though. Sometimes the castle is the reason for a personality change and it's hard to blame someone who was also a victim.

Why do liquids come through?
I think that it has to do with the pages themselves. They seem to be able to carry sound, which to me says they're not paper at all. I don't think anyone has tried to figure out what the pages are made out of.

Why do people bother using them? Can’t we stop using them and instead all get laptops or something? I have never written so much in my life, if it were possible, I would have carpal tunnel already.
You mentioned asking if there were people from other worlds and times - almost everyone knows how to write, but teaching everyone to use a laptop would be a difficult task. Also, the castle doesn't seem to like high tech things. With the exception of our rooms, most of the castle seems low-tech. Even the city, while large, doesn't have skyscrapers and there are parts of it that are lacking in the standard things like electricity. We do have a computer network, but it's not as easy to use for everyone here.

What do people lose?
It varies. I've actually lost a lot of things, but they're all connected to what I was good at back home. I used to work in a bar that allowed me to earn money by hustling the hunters that came through. Now anytime I try to gain an advantage over a hunter, it backfires. If I try to do well, I suck. If I try to suck, I do well. I can't get ahead if I'm trying.

What is the weirdest loss ever? The worst?
He's not here anymore, but Eliot Spencer had lost the ability to actively count. He knew there were 12 in a dozen, but he couldn't count to twelve. Or count to anything.

Why do we even call these “losses”? I feel like that’s a little dishonest, from what I’ve seen and read about, some of these aren’t losses so much as “everything going crazy.”
I think it's just a generic term that has been used so much it has become almost like a brand name. Since it's the castle taking away our usual way of acting/behaving/existing it's a way that we're losing our sense of free will/agency/identity. Even if it's something as simple as suddenly being a cat or a teenager.

Is there a way to stop them early?
I've heard about people going to the Dead Zone to stop them. Or if we get taken to another part of Paradisa sometimes that stops them.

Is the laundry room sponsored by Tide? That’s so confusing to me, you have no idea.
Considering how the castle decorates for the holidays, I really wonder if it just watched a year of TV and then went with that. If Tide was paying for advertising while it was learning, it could just be really good marketing strategy.

Has anyone ever gotten lost in there to the point where they couldn’t be rescued?
Sam Winchester was trapped there for a month. He's gone now. We tried to go in and find him and bring him out, but we spent all day trying to track him down and nearly got lost ourselves. There were also people trapped there for a few days once. I only heard about that, though. I didn't experience it.

Are there no other cities?
I'm not sure if they can be considered cities, but there are other developed areas. There are simulated cities for New York, Paris, and Los Angeles out there. A dinosaur theme part, a western town. I'm sure there's a list somewhere.

Why don’t we have powers out there? Does Paradisa do that?
I've heard stories about someone pushing a button and making the border expand outward. I thought it was just a story, but I've heard it a few times. You might want to look into that

Why is there a garage full of cars and other vehicles if this place doesn’t have any roads meant for cars?
Some people have memories attached to their vehicles, so they might have been gifts that the castle has given them. There are also times when we're taken to more modern cities and the cars come with us. It's weird, I don't know how else to explain it.

Tell me something cool about the castle that I maybe haven’t thought of.
The eight-legged (it might have been six, it's been a while) sheep are gamey. Don't eat them. They also make a lot of sad sounds when you kill them.


- Jo Harvelle - Earth - circa 2009

[kryptonian]

1. Sucks to be the Winchester guys, apparently.

2. What about the people here who aren't from Earth? Does the castle ever do holidays for them?

3. How does one opt-in or opt-out of the nonstop Paradisa spa, then? I may want to never shave my legs again, but I am not sure what kind of cost that will have to my soul, or whatever.

4. How popular is the theory that the castle observed life on Earth and tries to emulate it? I think it would sum up what I've seen so far pretty well...

5. I have eaten WAY grosser than extra-limbed sheep, but I will take your word for it.

Written;

[save_the_souls]

[Uh wow, talk about a talkative newbie. But since Allen does like to help out people who want answers, he takes the times and slowly writes out his answers]

General
1. How long has the oldest resident been here? The resident that has been here the longest.
Residents of this generation have been in this castle for six years now as of last December. I am one of the oldest residents, I cannot say who is the exact oldest. [Since if Django wants to keep that quiet he can]

2. What’s the shortest anyone ever stayed?
A few minutes.

3. Who has been here the most times? I’ve apparently been here four times, and I do not like it.
I do not know. There have been some that have been here at least half a dozen times though.

4. Why are so many people here from Earth?
I do not know. This castle seems to have a prefence for humanoid people, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

5. How come some people come back with memories and some don’t?
I do not know.

6. How many people here have come back with memories? How common is it??
It's only been a small handful, it only started happening in the past year. Overall the possibility is rather low.

7. What’s the most people that was ever here at one time?
About four or five hundred? But that was a long time ago.

8. What’s the craziest reaction someone ever had to coming to Paradisa?
I cannot recall the exact craziest. Though there were a group of people who spent a long time convinced this was some sort of video game. No, I do not understand why.

9. What have people tried to get out?
That's an incredibly long list that even I have not kept track of.

10. How do you know time stops back home while we’re here?
Because people during their stay sometimes will get sent back home temporarily but then get brought back as if they never left. During these points in time, it seems no time has passed since they first came here. Not only that, but people will come from future timelines and have never noticed one's absence.

11. How many different universes exist here?
There's been no official count. Many.

12. Do some of you really come from such, uh... unadvanced worlds?
Yes, they do. As well as some who are from eras much later than the 21st century. None of us feel like we are unadvanced, so it's all a matter of perspective.

13. To people who aren’t from the 21st century: how confused are you?
It can be quite confusing, but over time a person adjusts.

14. Are some people here the only people from their worlds? Like, has never met anyone they know, or comes from some sort of “anomaly” universe?
Yes, that happens from time to time.

15. How many people have met people they know, but are actually from other universes?
It occurs from time to time.

16. If we don’t age, does hair grow? Fingernails? Periods??
Yes, hair and fingernails still grow. [a pause, ugh] As a medical professional, I can say evidence suggests the last occurs as well.


Death
1. When you die, what happens? Does it effect the timeline?
It does not effect the timeline, but a person will remain for two weeks. Reports of experiences during that time have varied between no real memory and rather traumatic episodes. When they return, they often will have a second loss in additional to their original one.

2. How often does it happen?
Not that frequently, but still too frequently.

3. If people don’t stay dead, are you guys cool with murder or is it still wrong? (It’s not cool.)
Murder is still wrong.

Journals
1. Why do liquids come through?
I'd imagine it's because ink is made of a liquid so that would need to get through in order to communicate between the different journals.

2. Why do people bother using them? Can’t we stop using them and instead all get laptops or something? I have never written so much in my life, if it were possible, I would have carpal tunnel already.
Computers are not accessible to everyone due to different technological levels, and you can always dictate if you get tired of writing. Not only that, but journals don't require batteries.


“Price Losses”
1. What do people lose?
All sorts of things: memories, abilities, items, skills, freedoms.

2. If you lose a memory, are you aware that you lost that memory, or is it like nothing ever happened?
It depends from person from person. Some seem able to tell there are gaps in their memories, others never notice.

3. If you lose an ability, what happens if you try to do it anyway?
It simply doesn't work.

4. What is the weirdest loss ever? The worst?
I'm not at liberty to say that, many people treat their losses as a personal matter.

5. Do we KNOW that it’s a price we pay for being here, or is that just an assumption? (And you know what they say about assumptions... Or you should, anyway.)
It's an assumption. I assume that since the castle feeds on our emotions, losing something important is a nice start for that. Or maybe that's some sort of downpayment that feeds the castle.

6. Why does the castle pick what it picks?
No one knows exactly why, but we know it's important to a person, so maybe it's to get an emotional reaction.

“Temporary Losses”
1. Why do we even call these “losses”? I feel like that’s a little dishonest, from what I’ve seen and read about, some of these aren’t losses so much as “everything going crazy.”
Because in our first year here, we had no idea what was happening. But it seemed like all the crazy occurrences at the time were being caused by a "loss" of something: an item, an ability, a memory- nothing too crazy. So people began to call them losses and the name stuck even if they don't always pertain to that term.

2. What’s the extent of what can happen? Basically, what HASN’T Paradisa done, where does it draw lines?
I have yet to find a line that Paradisa has drawn in regards to them.

3. What’s the point? I get the “draws emotional power, we’re batteries” thing but why does it pick what it does?
No one knows exactly why the castle thinks it way it does. I'd imagine unpredictability leads way to more emotions.

4. What’s the longest one ever lasted?
I've had one last a month and a half, but I've heard others have them last for up to several months. The most common is a week.

5. Is there a way to stop them early?
I've heard a temporary loss stops if you go to the Dead Zone, but returning to the Live Zone will make the loss come back and make you go through the rest of the time of the loss.

The Building?
1. I’ve been looking at the way the wires and vents are, and nothing really matches up. Nothing makes sense. Do we know anything else about that? Everything goes down to the ground, has anyone tried going under the castle?
People have tried going under the castle, but I think it's always been unsuccessful as far as I'm aware. I don't know anything else much about that.

2. Why do so many people hang out on the roof?
It's a nice view! A quieter place to think as well. The grounds have too many people sparring on them.

3. Is the laundry room sponsored by Tide? That’s so confusing to me, you have no idea.
I do not know.

Insolitus
1. What do we know about the abandoned room in there?
We know that the room must have been discovered at some point during the First Generation's stay. All the objects in there seem to hold some sort of mysterious power, but it varies from item to item and it's not always easy to tell.

2. Has anyone tried to map it? I know it seems to change, but is there any sort of pattern, to it? Does Tunnel B go left only on a Monday, that kind of thing?
I do not know.

3. Has anyone ever gotten lost in there to the point where they couldn’t be rescued?
How would we know if they couldn't be found?

4. Has anyone tried drilling or breaking through walls in there? I guess what I’m asking here is does it “match up” with other parts of the maze, or does everything exist on different planes of whatever? I haven’t been able to figure it out.
I do not know.


Outside of Paradisa?
1. Why don’t people go out there more often?
There is no technology or powers out there. In addition most areas seem to have no real source of wildlife that is good for hunting or gathering, nor are any of us really farmers. Also there is the First Generation that is rather hostile to us and death is permanent out there. Not to mention, lots of creatures that can be quite dangerous.

2. Is there anyone out there?
Several groups. The ones who came from Paradisa we label as the "first generation". Contact with them is limited. There are also other groups out there that we know little about, such as the spiders and the plague doctor's people.

3. Are there no other cities?
There is an abandoned village about a day's ride from the Dead Zone's border to the northeast. Beyond that, we have yet to discover any cities on this continent yet.

4. I don’t know much about city building, but it’s kinda weird to me that they can have a whole city with no trade or anything. Do the people in the city ever get shipments or whatever?
We don't know, the townspeople seem to have little clue to about the workings of their city or the outside beyond what the castle let's them know.

5. Why are there all these random abandoned warehouse type things when the city is pretty Dark Ages? Or Medieval Times? Or Renaissance? I don’t know the difference. If someone can explain that, that’d be great.
I do not know.

6. How far have people traveled?
About two weeks out by horseback. We try to have expeditions once or twice a year. Other people may try traveling more on their own.

7. Do we have a map?
Yes, it's here [Insert page number Jenn you know where it is]

8. Why don’t we have powers out there? Does Paradisa do that?
I do not know.

Misc.
1. Why is there a garage full of cars and other vehicles if this place doesn’t have any roads meant for cars?
The castle brings in cars that belonged to people for Christmas, but not road builders.

2. What’s that big orange crystal on the lawn? I, as a rule, don’t go near random coloured crystals.
That was a gift from a friendly First Generation person who resides at Mineas Well, named Flora. Touching it will bring you to Mineas Well.

3. What’s the biggest mystery you want an answer to? Having only been here two weeks, I can’t even imagine what I don’t know.
I simply want to find a way for people who wish to return home to do so with their memories, and those who wish to stay have the security of staying.

4. Tell me something cool about the castle that I maybe haven’t thought of.
Um...there's sometimes world changes where we see new places!

Written;

[kryptonian]

[Snerk, "medical professional". Allen, did you get your red wings?]

It sounds like you don't know too much for someone who has been here for six years, but thank you.

Tell me more about these "world changes!" That sounds interesting.

And what's Mineas Well?

written;

[psych0p0mps]

bookmarking this

written;

[workaphilic]

[Allen answered the boring ones, so he can focus on the fun ones! Aces.

Also he's not bored enough to recopy the questions, sorry.]

General
4. Possible Earth has the most alternate universes from which to draw from, or that Earth's universes are the easiest to access.

5. Seems to hinge on whether residents are actually sent home or preserved by Paradisa when they vanish. The residents that have their memories returned to them are kept in storage until we stumble on them, and the memories that are restored are linked to a specific incarnation. [There's page flipping, and then a number written in.] There's reports of people having old memories restored while still in the castle, but it's a rare phenomenon. [and another page number]

10. [He draws an arrow to Allen's answer.] That's the evidence they cite. The reality is: we don't.

16. Yes. Doesn't make sense, does it?

Death
2. Whenever residents feel like killing each other. (Which is not very often, unfortunately.)

3. There are supposed to be repercussions for it, if that's what you mean.

Journals
1. [Another arrow to Allen's answer.] Magic advanced enough to be a reliable method of communication for hundreds of people at once, to regenerate itself and track the owner, but somehow can't tell the difference between blood and ink.

2. They're already connected. Some residents don't know how to use computers. It's the simplest option, so it's the preferred one.

“Price Losses”
3. [Another arrow to Allen's...] It varies. Sometimes the loss physically stops you, other times it replaces it with something undesirable.

5. Presumed. But it's a good presumption.

“Temporary Losses”
1. It's an egregious misnomer.

2. In the unlikely event boundaries do exist, they'd be scribbles, not lines.

[The Insolitus got boring after the first time he went in there, so he skips that section entirely.]

Outside of Paradisa
1. See above re: simplest option.

8. Probably not. Could make the argument that it's Paradisa's influence petering out, but residents have manipulated the range of the Dead Zone before.

dictated

[kryptonian]

Cool.

As far as repercussions for murder goes, does that mean people care in theory but just don't follow through, or that we just don't have the means to enforce it? I tried to arrest someone the other week but it's not like there was anywhere I could bring her or anyone I could turn her over to. And that's just one... if I caught someone with, say, superpowers, how would they possibly be punished?

Also, what makes the purposes of "price losses" a good presumption? I know we were apparently told that we ARE here as power sources, but I want to know if losses are specifically a part of that or if they're just, like... a way of holding us hostage.

[secondchances]

Holy crap.

[kryptonian]

I had questions.

[whistles_the_blues]

I'm sure you could have fit a few more questions in there somewhere.

Don't go near coloured crystals? Are they taboo or something?

[kryptonian]

I could... and I will, in the future.

I just don't like them.

Written

[jimfromit]

Oh oh I'll take music knowledge for 500!

[Being helpful...what's that?]

[kryptonian]

That's the least witty reply yet.

[Dictated]

[therealrisette]

Wow, I never would have thought of writing all this in the journals! I've just been asking people around the castle since I got here.

These things are really useful, huh?

[Dictated]

[kryptonian]

That's what I was doing at first, but hey, broader audience.

They are! I still with they were tech-based, though, I'd rather use a keyboard than write by hand.

Written

[tapshoetomove]

Some people hang out on the roof to talk to the moon! Or at least that's what one fellow told me. Andby fellow, I mean giant rabbit.

[Luke is trying to be helpful. Keyword is trying.]

Written

[kryptonian]

A giant rabbit?

[dicated]

[legacydeck]

Curious, are we? [He mostly sounds amused - he can respect curiosity, even if she seems a little self-centered]

I can tell you from personal experience that at least some of us from before the 21st century aren't confused at all - and from what I've seen and read in the library, I am not missing out on a great deal.

And I know of two different people who have tried to leave via magic which warps space, though you'd have to ask them for the intricate details of the spells used. Apparently we're on a bit of an isolated plane here, though - neither of them could connect to anything at home.

[kryptonian]

Very curious.

Who might I talk to about this space-warping magic?