The Guide

The Archive is a curated collection of pieces written for the community as a whole: principles, customs, safety, history and reference. It is meant to wear well — to be read this year and next year both. Anyone with a member account may read it; anyone may contribute.

You will find it at the Archive.

The Cellars keeps two distinct collections. Manuscripts preserve creative memory — fiction, session memories, journals and personal narratives. The Archive preserves institutional memory — shared principles, history, protocol, safety and reference, together with Archive Contributions approved by Keepers. Both are valuable; they serve different purposes and are discovered separately. A creative work never appears in Archive listings, and an Archive piece never appears in Manuscripts.

The Archive is organised into a small number of standing shelves:

• Foundations — the principles and vocabulary of the community: consent, role, ritual, identity.
• Protocol — practices, customs and the etiquette of the house, from greetings to ceremony.
• Safety — consent, negotiation, risk awareness, aftercare and harm reduction.
• History — lineages, traditions, communities and people that have shaped what we do.
• Library — longer reference works, recommended reading and outside resources.

• Pieces that explain something useful to the community as a whole.
• Writing that is calm and considered, not personal commentary or news.
• Practical guides where care is taken with safety and accuracy.
• Historical or reference material with sources where possible.

If a piece is mainly about your own experience or voice, it is a Manuscript. If it is a conversation or a question, a Chamber is a better home.

Open the Archive and choose a category, or use search to look across published Archive entries. Each entry shows its title, summary, category and author.

Open contribute to the Archive to begin. A contribution needs:

• A clear title.
• A short summary readers will see in listings.
• The body of the piece.
• A category from the list above.
• Sources or further reading where the piece draws on outside material.

Drafts remain yours until you submit. Take a little more care than a Manuscript: this writing is meant to be read for a long time.

Archive contributions follow the shared Editorial Lifecycle: a piece is a Draft until you submit it, Under Review while an Archivist reads it, and Published once it joins the shelf. Superseded pieces are Archived rather than deleted. The process is quiet and unhurried, and a piece in review remains private to you and to editorial staff.

Published pieces appear under their category, on author profiles, and in search. Your name remains on the piece. Small corrections can be requested through staff; you can also submit a revised version, which is reviewed again.

A published piece may also be related to records in the other collections — see Knowledge Graph.

• It is not a forum — for conversation, use a Chamber.
• It is not a personal blog — for that, write a Manuscript.
• It is not a directory of members, Houses or events.

The Archive is the community's shared shelf. Write the piece you wish had been there when you arrived.