SettingThe stories you tell on this site will take place on
Birchwood Isle. To make the most of your experience, you need to understand where the island is,
what it is, and its
natural laws (which might be a concept you're not familiar with). Let's get the basics out of the way as simply and easily as possible.
Location: 85 Miles off the Eastern Coast of Maine
Founded: 2007
Originally Settled: Nobody knows for sure
Founding Family: Bennett
Size: 219 square miles
Population: 12,000 permanent residents
Climate: Temperate with cold, snowy winters
Transportation: Ferry on and off the island with chartered flights during the cold seasons. Trains run the length of the island with routes from North to South
Government: Self-Governing
Time Zone: US Eastern
Currency: BWI Dollars
Some concepts are a bit more difficult to explain, and they require their own sub-heading here.
Birchwood Isle PhilosophyIn 2007, the Bennett Family (originally from North Carolina and Alabama) pooled their vast resources and purchased an uninhabited island 85 miles off the coast of Maine. Their intention? To build a
nation in which parents had the choice in how to raise their children -- without the increasing global regulations on the use of corporal punishment that many of their fellow Americans had begun to feel were leading to the deteriorating behavior in children, adolescents, and young adults. The founding family, and because of them, the
law,
sanctions the use of corporal punishment and even implements it at the judicial level in order to help support parents in raising well-behaved children and well-adjusted young adults
1.
Corporal punishment is used in all Birchwood Isle schools when children or adolescents behave poorly in the classroom. It is used in all of the Orphan Village homes (though not necessarily by all adults who work in those homes). It is used by the majority of parents on the island, with occasional exceptions.
Therefore, it should be understood that
our site is about corporal punishment. It is incorporated in virtually every setting throughout the island and you will see it used frequently. Parents often punish their errant children or adolescents in public places, and residents of the island are likely to witness punishment frequently. It may be embarrassing for the one being punished, but citizens know better than to shame the parents for doing their duty. In fact, in cases where parents are deemed not to be doing their duty by their children by punishing them appropriately when necessary, the government may take matters into its own hand in the form of the Judicial Review process (see
Discipline Policies and
Terms to Know for more information). Children or adolescents who persistently behave poorly may be
removed from their families and placed in the Orphan Village or at St. Jude's Academy where they
will be corrected for their poor behavior.
Natural -- and Supernatural -- LawsDue to the site's progression in the absence of non-admin members, the natural laws of the island have changed to include supernatural species. However, these species are
strictly limited to Witches belonging to two lines of witches, werewolves (a much more open species), and shapeshifters. We do not feel at this point that we need to go into detail about what each of these supernatural races means. Should you have questions, please reach out to us on Discord.
Footnotes1. The founders of Birchwood Isle -- that is, Storm and River --
do not support the use of corporal punishment in the real world except by consenting adults. We stipulate that corporal punishment often has the opposite of the desired effect and that those subjected to it as children often
do not grow up to be well-adjusted adults. Birchwood Isle is, in most respects, not intended to represent the real world or our views of it.
