Discipline PoliciesBirchwood Isle is, ultimately, a
disciplinary roleplay. Chances are good there will be a
lot of threads/stories that focus on discipline as a central theme. Most of our members are looking for
spanking, which we generally refer to broadly as "corporal punishment" because this term encompasses a variety of applications from over-the-knee hand spanking to birching. Because this is such an important part of our roleplay environment and the setting of Birchwood Isle, we need to ensure that everyone understands how discipline works.
Setting Up for SuccessFirst and foremost, you'll be asked to include a discipline sheet with your character's application. We have supplied a copy-able Google spreadsheet for you to use to translate information about your preferences for your character or inner kid, along with what works best for them. Instructions for its use are included in the
applications area. Doing this gives other members a snapshot of your preferences and helps us interact appropriately with your character when discipline is needed. While our color codes go quite a distance to give an at-a-glance impression of your needs, every member and every inner person is an individual, and we like to know exactly what we're dealing with before we step on toes or make grave mistakes. Our admins ask that you please complete these thoroughly and thoughtfully and encourage you to understand that failure to do so will likely result in situations that make you uncomfortable.
Discipline at HomeAt home, an inner kid's guardian is in charge of deciding how discipline will be administered. We encourage our members to match carefully with adults whose colors reflect the needs of the inner kid and your preferences as their "big." For example, if you're looking for mild discipline and your inner kid is coded as a "yellow," you won't want to match them with a red or purple adult. You can read more about the color coding system in our
member groups file for more information on this.
We suggest that families have color ranges of no more than 3 colors. So, for example, a family might range from yellow to red, or from orange to purple. Get to know the other members of your family and their players before you sign up to join the family! This will keep everyone safe and happy.
Parents and guardians are in charge of deciding what discipline will be administered based on the parameters of the inner kid's application. It is not up to the player of the inner kid to determine how their inner kid should be punished or how harsh the punishment should be! This is
always up to the parent, in part because we think everyone will enjoy that loss of control and the sense of inevitability more this way, and in part because players offering adult characters are often making sacrifices to make things better for people who bring their inner kids to Birchwood Isle. Let's keep control flowing in the right direction!
However, players offering adult characters are advised that they may only punish as harshly as the harshest option selected by the inner kid's "big." You may always go
milder, but never harsher, than what your partner has selected on their discipline sheet.
Children and Adolescents living in the Orphan Village are subject to the authority of their caregivers there, and those playing caregivers must follow the same criteria as above. You may only ever use the harshest discipline selected by your partner, and may go as mild as you feel is appropriate for the given situation. Therefore, even if your adult character is an Indigo, they may not punish a Yellow child as harshly as they would a Violet child, for example.
Parents and guardians set the rules for their households and
are permitted to punish for reasons that are not strictly outlined in the rules. Rules for Houses in the Orphan Village are created by the Head of each house and relate specifically to that house. You will find rules listed for each family or House in the
Family Database.
Discipline at SchoolRules at school are enforced by the instructors and the head teacher of each school. As everywhere else on the island, discipline is administered with
corporal punishment.
For teachers, this means that punishment may be administered to the clothed buttocks and legs or to the palms of the hands using a rattan cane (across the palms) or a Scottish tawse (delivered to the fingers and palm)
1. For
headteachers, application of punishment on the bare buttocks and legs is permitted, but a witness must be present to supervise the discipline and this discipline may only be applied by an adult the same sex as the student being punished.
School implements include American paddles, English-style canes, and Scottish tawse. Teachers are not permitted to strike students with the palm of their hand or with "personal" implements like their own leather belts or hairbrushes. The
only implements that are permitted in the school setting are paddles of all types, rattan canes, and Scottish tawse.
1. If you play a teacher and want to use punishment on the hands, we suggest doing some research into how this works before administering one of these punishments.
Judicial DisciplineChildren and adolescents who break the law are subject to
Judicial Discipline. There is a process that determines what the punishment will be, but breaking the law almost always results in corporal punishment from a member of the Judicial Review Board.
Members are strongly advised to know the island's laws and avoid breaking them if they do not want their inner kid to receive a very severe corporal punishment from the judicial review board!1Judicial punishments vary between children and adolescents. In most cases, children
will be sent home to their parents or guardians to be punished at home, and the judicial review board will follow up with parents to ensure that punishment has been carried out in an appropriately severe manner. The official sentence will then be
suspended and carried out if another incident follows the first, at which point the child will be subjected to the following:
Children subjected to judicial punishments will be stripped from the waist down and secured into a child-sized punishment frame located in Punishment Room 2. Judicial punishments for children always come from a variety of judicial paddles selected from options that are large enough to cover the entire bottom or both thighs at the same time. They range in length, weight, and design, with the most severe paddles having holes drilled into them. These holes are guaranteed to leave bruises and may leave blisters.
This is a very severe paddling! Adolescents subjected to judicial punishments will strip naked and then be secured into a punishment frame located in Punishment Room 1. Judicial punishments for adolescents are administered with a strap, a cane, or a combination of both. Straps and canes come in a number of weights and materials. Straps may be leather or rubber and canes may be rattan or bamboo. Straps may be constructed of a single strip of pliable leather or like a tawse, with multiple fingers (or tongues). Adolescents may receive punishment on their buttocks and thighs, on their shoulders, or a combination of these. A judicial punishment for an adolescent will likely result in deep bruises, welts, and sometimes cuts. The pain is lasting and intense.
This is a very severe punishment!A doctor is present to check on the miscreant's physical condition throughout the punishment. He or she will check vitals and the condition of the skin. The doctor is permitted to
stop the punishment if the individual's distress becomes so great that they cannot safely continue. The "executioner"
must stop punishment if the doctor declares punishment is to be stopped.
Once the punishment has ended, the miscreant will be released from their binding and permitted to stand up with support. At this point, the doctor is likely to put in an IV to administer fluids and, if necessary, pain medications. The miscreant will be offered a robe and the opportunity to go to the bathroom (located inside the punishment rooms), where they can clean up as necessary. (Many individuals punished in this way lose control of their bladder and may need to wash up afterward.) Help is available at this point if it is needed.
During the process, parents or guardians wait on the other side of a two-way mirror where they can watch and hear the process but not be seen by the child or adolescent experiencing the punishment. They enter this observation room from outside the punishment room, and will be released into the punishment room when the punishment is over. During their wait, a social worker stays with them to provide information on how to care for their child or ward when they are released into their custody.
School-aged children and adolescents who receive judicial punishments during the school term receive one week off school to recover. Parents and guardians are encouraged to keep them quiet during this time and to give them pain medication as prescribed if needed. Recovery time is permitted because these are extremely severe punishments that the judicial review board and the laws of the island take seriously. During the recovery period, the punished person's support team, including their social worker (if they have one), their therapist, their doctor or nurse, and the officer who performed their punishment, along with their "support officer" will come to visit them and check in. Judicial Review Board members often bring comfort in the form of food, comfort toys like stuffed animals (regardless of age), and in some cases (with parent or guardian permission) even a new pet (emotional support animal). The purpose of this is to prove that the punishment is over and that whatever act led to it has been forgiven.
1. This has been a problem in the past. Members allowed their inner kids to behave in extreme ways that violated the laws of the island, then became upset when the next step was to be brought before the Judicial Review Board for a "trial" and judgment. This behavior makes the site difficult for the admins to manage and members are advised to be aware that
judicial punishments are not subject to their preferences. Once your inner kid has broken the law, the wheels are in motion and will not stop until the punishment is carried out.
Important NotesThe island has no law or rule that says that children and adolescents may not be punished by people who are not their teachers, parents, or the Judicial Review Board (JRB). This means that technically, any adult may discipline any child they find misbehaving. For example, a child or adolescent found misbehaving when in a store by themselves could be subject to the discipline of the shop's owner, often as an alternative to calling the police (which would result in a judicial review process. See above). Although uncommon, members should be aware of this potentiality, but should also be aware that those playing the adults in these situations should communicate directly with the person playing the child or adolescent to ensure they are comfortable with this outcome. From an out of character perspective, members should expect their inner kid's parents, guardians, or teachers to act as they see fit, but should be aware that the player has the right to say "no" to discipline from a stranger.
Our discipline sheets should cover this. If for any reason you find that they do not, please notify us. Please also be advised that a member's discipline sheet is not a hard and fast agreement to be disciplined by your adult and that you are obligated to discuss the matter with them beforehand, even if their discipline sheet allows discipline from strangers.
This being address, you should also be aware that your inner kid's friends' parents are
likely to discipline your inner kid at some point if your inner kid is visiting their friends and misbehaves while there. This is considered standard. Adult players should still always check discipline sheets and respect color codes/member groups!
