Residential Quadrants on Birchwood Isle

We envision Birchwood Isle as a quaint and homey small town spread out over roughly half of a privately-governed island in the North Atlantic.

The inhabited half of the island is divided roughly into four main quadrants: The Northern Isle (middle class), the Eastern Isle (upper classes), the Southern Isle (farmlands, ranches, and homesteads), and the Western Isle (lower classes). Originally the Western Isle was devoted as reserved lands for the Piper clan, but that has since changed. 

Recently we've altered the way that we handle the class system on Birchwood Isle (something which will come up soon in one of our Weekly Roleplay Tips, so watch out for it!) in order to encourage people to branch out and make some more unusual selections for their characters. The Eastern Isle has begun to grow too much and we'd like to divert some of these characters into other social classes.

It's difficult to categorize people, and so we've generally filtered people into residential areas at the request of the players. this results in a large number of "wealthy" characters and fewer "poor" characters. We wanted to make things more interesting, so we've further divided these quadrants into two halves each.

From now on, it will look like this:

Upper Class (wealthy) residents will live on the Eastern Isle where it borders the coast and the Northern Isle. This means that some of these residences will be "beach front" while other residences in this section will be set into the woods. Homes in this quadrant will have spacious lawns with larger home buildings. No home will be within shouting distance of its neighbors, and these homes will always be single-family homes (i.e. no condos, townhomes, or apartments in this area).

On the forum, look under Eastern Isle for the Upper Class forum. Your character must either be in the government or have a high-profile, high-income career in order to live here.

Upper Middle Class residents will live on the Eastern central island, closer to the town. This means that the residents of this area have easier access to the town areas and to work. Most of the families housed in this area have at least one working adult in them, and these adults may work higher-profile jobs or simply higher-paid jobs. Homes in this area resemble upper middle class neighborhoods in the United States. These homes are generally in the half-million to million dollar price range (for comparison to American homes). Townhomes and a wealthy apartment complex is provided in this area of the island.

On the forum, look under Eastern Isle for the Middle Class forum. Your character's job must meet income requirements in order to maintain a home in this section. Speak to an administrator before declaring an Eastern Isle family.

Middle Class residents will live on the Northern Island in the wooded area where it borders the Eastern Isle. This area spreads from the woods all the way to the town. These homes are closer together, much like a suburban area in the United States. Neighborhoods are compact and closely knit. Residents of this area generally have good jobs as shoppe or restaurant managers and may work in finance. Apartment complexes and middle class townhomes are available in this area.

On the forum, look under Northern Isle for the Middle Class forum. Your character's family must have at least one adult working in upper management or finance in order to have a home in this area.

Lower Middle Class residents will live on the Northern Isle where it borders the Western Isle. This area spreads back into the woods and stretches to the border with the Western Isle and the lower class areas. Homes here have smaller lawns to keep costs down, but they are still generally very well kept. Residents of this area generally work in lower management and/or have two adults per family working. Two apartment buildings provide inexpensive housing for small families or couples.

On the forum, look under Northern Isle for the Lower Middle Class forum. Your character's family must have at least two working adults in order to have a home in this area. Consider an apartment for single adults.

Working Class residents will live on the Western Isle where it borders the Northern Isle and the beach. This area covers a small amount of land, as there is such a small segment of the population of Birchwood Isle that fit into this wealth class. Homes here are small and compact, and a trailer park dominates much of the land here. Anyone preferring to live in a mobile home will ultimately make their home here, regardless of social class. There are no apartment buildings here: Residents must choose cottages or trailers.

On the forum, look under Western Isle for the Working Class forum. Your character must either belong to a family with low-paying jobs or desire to live in a trailer or trailer park. Please consider your preference of home carefully!

Piper Clan residents will live on the Western Isle where it borders the Southern Isle. This area is reserved specifically for the Piper Clan and no other residents may live here. The clan is played primarily by the administrative team, so this is not an area you'll need to worry too much about. Pipers live in small cottages and occasionally trailers without much organization to their homes. Strangers are generally unwelcome on this part of the island.

On the forum, look under Western Isle for the Piper Lands forum. Your character must be a Piper or adopted into the Piper clan in order to live on this part of the island. Not all Pipers have to live here. 

Homesteaders will live on the Southern Isle where it borders the Piper Lands. This section has been carved out specifically for those who are running small, private homesteads. Properties in this area range in value and size, but many are less than five full acres of land. Families may be dependent entirely on their own homesteads for food, and homesteads may include animals and crops. 

On the forum, look under Southern Isle for the Homesteaders forum. Your character's family must be a homesteading family in order to live on this part of the island. He or she may also hold down a regular job.

Farmers and Ranchers will live on the Southern Isle where it borders the Eastern Isle. The homes here are spread out, the houses generally large, and the acreages huge to provide food for the families on the island as well as to provide livestock animals and meat. Horse and cattle ranches are abundant with one or two sheep ranches scattered throughout. These people provide most of the food for the island.

On the forum, look under Southern isle for the Farms and Ranches forum. Your character must be a farmer or a rancher in order to live on this part of the island. At least one adult must actively farm or ranch the land in order to remain here. Farmers and ranchers may treat their home as a business and hire on additional staff. Include this in the family profile!

4 Reasons we Discourage Cliques

Sometimes I think that the language we use at Birchwood Isle can be a bit confusing for potential members, and we might be chasing some people away. For that reason, I want to be as clear as I can. We discourage cliques, but encourage people to come to Birchwood Isle with their own roleplay partners. We don't believe that having a committed role play partner (like Ava and I have one another) means that you are automatically a part of a "clique."

As long as you continue to role play with other members, pairs do not a clique make.

The problem isn't two people who enjoy role playing together. The problem is the exclusion of other members. Everybody wants to be included when they join a roleplay group, and Birchwood Isle strives to make sure that everybody can find a place with us for their inner kid.

We discourage cliques for the following reasons: 

1. Cliques prevent new members from getting involved. If two or three members team up together and only post with one another, those two or three people may prevent new members from having anyone to role play with by focusing on one another's threads and being unwilling to provide stimulating plots to involve them.
2. Cliques lock characters into relationships with no outlet. In general, a clique locks the characters belonging to the clique's members into relationships with one another and prevent them from maintaining or obtaining outside relationships with other characters. This is harmful to the group and also to the individuals.
3. Cliques don't serve the group, only individual members. It's important on Birchwood Isle that all members contribute to the overall culture of the group. When members clique with one another, no member of the clique actually contributes to the group. The characters ultimately take up space.
4. Cliques make people feel passively bullied by exclusion. Most of the people who come to ageplay groups such as Birchwood Isle have at some point in their lives experienced trauma. None of us need to feel bullied all over again when we aren't "part of the group." Cliques make people feel bullied by pushing them out of the group.

Our staff has made a commitment to include everybody. You should receive a personal message within two days of acceptance from one of the staff members with plot suggestions to get you started. 

Please do bear in mind, however, that you should be reaching out to other members with plots as well! To take us up on this opportunity, please...

Join Birchwood Isle

Preference vs. Discrimination: What's the Difference?

Recently we were forced to ban a member we liked in part because of discriminatory behavior by this member. Thanks, in part, to this situation, we created a Diversity Policy for Birchwood Isle which lays out what we allow and what we don't allow in terms of discrimination against any group on our site.

On Birchwood Isle, we don't allow anyone to discriminate against anyone else for any reason. So while it may be an unpopular point of view, you cannot refuse to role play with a character for being straight, or white, or male, or wealthy, or cisgender, or any number of things.

You are permitted to have a preference in your role play! Some people prefer to role play with female adults, and some might have a preference for adopting female children. These are preferences, not discrimination. We highly recommend that you keep these types of preferences to yourself. Talking openly about preferences that exclude particular groups of people can be triggering to some people and is generally offensive to nearly everyone on Birchwood Isle. Elect to play with men instead of women if you want, but try not to post in your plot page (or other people's plot pages) that you don't want to role play with women.

If your preferences become discriminatory -- that is to say that if you prefer one group over the other so much that you cannot play with a particular group -- then that is discrimination, and this isn't going to be the right group for you: You'll be in violation of our discrimination policy.

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of a class of people based on such things as gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. The key word here is prejudicial. 

If you choose to judge an individual (let's say my character/inner adult Josh Tanner) based on his gender (cismale) or his ethnicity (Samoan) without taking the time to learn about Josh as an individual, this is discrimination. 

While we understand the sexual nature of ageplay, and that your own orientation and preferences may relate to your preferences in a group such as ours, we also believe that inner kids are people too and that we cannot allow members to pick and choose people to play with based on discriminatory practices, policies, and behavior.

So you may prefer to play with women, but you may not refuse to play with men. 

If characters of a particular gender, race, or sexual orientation "trigger" you, let us know up front. We may be able to make accommodations, but more likely than not you'll find that this isn't the group for you.

9 Reasons to Make Birchwood Isle Your Next Ageplay Home

If it's somehow not yet clear, we love Birchwood Isle! So does every member who has been polled on the subject, with a unanimous 5/5 star rating from our members. Clearly we have something going on that you can't find anywhere else on the internet, so what is it that makes Birchwood Isle unique? Why should you consider making it your next ageplay home on the web? 

Here are just a few reasons.

1. We're inclusive. Birchwood Isle has a place for people of all preferences, whether you want discipline or sexuality in your role play or you don't, whether you like to play little kids, teenagers, or adults, whether you are an exceptional writer/role player or are just starting out, whether your character is an emotionally-real inner kid or one of our canons. We are accepting of everyone who can follow our basic rules!
2. We provide every (inner) child character with someone to play with. Even if you choose to play a biological child in a canon family waiting for parents, your child character will always have at least a teacher and a doctor to interact with. Every child on the site has at least one adult in his or her support network. Child characters in foster care will be assigned a social worker, guardian, therapist, physician/pediatrician, and a teacher. Birchwood Isle doesn't ignore your inner kid!
3. We're personable. I've written before about the community at Birchwood Isle. Unlike most ageplay groups of our type, we have an ongoing out-of-character chat (via chatbox in the sidebar of our site or above the main board for guests). Our members are welcoming and personable, and most of all always anxious to talk to guests and new members! You won't find another site in this genre capable of greeting you the way you'll be greeted at Birchwood Isle!
4. Everyone plays together. We actively encourage our members to play with one another by using events to reward people for plotting with other members and planning threads with them. Our goal is to foster an environment in which members get to know one another personally and care for one another and one another's inner families. No environment is altogether clique-free, but we put every effort into making sure that everyone has a roleplay partner!
5. We have great events. Every month Birchwood Isle hosts a minimum of three events. Each of the three group foster homes on the island has an "activity night" which we play out monthly for those interested, and we also have community-wide events for everyone to participate in. Those participating receive an award for doing so (see below). Most months we also have an out of character event to encourage people to plot with one another.
6. Everybody loves awards! My co-administrator is a wonderful artist who creates graphic awards for the members who participate in the events and involve themselves in the contests. Who doesn't like getting an award added to their trophy case when they do something exceptional on the site? These are usually added monthly, though sometimes we get a bit of a back-log, since we like for them to be unique!
7. We encourage our members. Each week we post a "Weekly Encouragement" to lift up our members and to show them how much we appreciate them. These are words of encouragement for those who might be needing it, and also a way for us to point out areas where we'd like to see some particular character groups filled in. Members then have the opportunity to reply with their own form, to encourage one another or the staff!
8. Our characters are diverse. Though it's rare in ageplay, Birchwood Isle has a diverse cast of characters! They come from every race, many ethnic backgrounds, several genders (binary cisgender, binary transgender, non-binary and gender fluid), most sexual orientations (including asexual, demisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, pansexual, and bisexual), and socio-economic backgrounds. We truly are diverse.
9. We won't pressure you to play an adult. While we do encourage our members to make adult characters (and play them), we aren't going to force you to play an adult in order to take on another child character. You may play as many children as you want without a requirement to play an adult. Our files often say that we would like to see more adults and teenagers, but we don't carry any ratios unless absolutely necessary!

If you need one more reason, we'd love to have you at Birchwood Isle! Nobody's going to pressure you into being something you're not on Birchwood Isle, and we only ban for two reasons: Predatory behavior and discriminatory (racist or sexist) behavior. We're happy to have you with us!