I'm glad you asked 
They're another tool to help people decide what realms are best for them. They'll be similar to the "Realm Summary", but completely OOC, very brief, and forbidden from including value judgements. The idea is that they'll give descriptions like "Large realm, semi-autonomous duchies, plenty of intrigue and politics," but emphatically not, "Most fun realm on the continent!" or "Best Viking realm in the game."
They will then appear on the new character creation screen in the list of realms.
Good stuff!
But... there is only one true Viking realm in the game now (and therefore the best)... (actually, given the General Discussion post, nobody else even self-identifies that way, except maybe Caergoth...)
EDIT: Actual question - Will IG surveys be run through the message system (or at least prompted)? If so, is there a redundancy or a recurring message to fill it out? I'm concerned some might see it and decide to do it later... only to find they can't.
