The Cellars.

Help & Guidance

The Guide

A quiet companion for The Cellars. Read it once, return when needed.

Trust within The Cellars

The Cellars does not verify identity. It verifies trust, at clearly distinct levels. Knowing what each level does — and does not — mean is part of moving through this community well.

1. Access presumes legal adulthood

To cross the threshold of The Cellars, a member declares that they are legally an adult in their jurisdiction. That declaration is taken seriously. Responsibility for its truth rests, in the first instance, with the member who made it.

2. Adult Verified

When a member carries the Adult Verified badge, The Cellars' administration has reviewed their request and confirmed that they have demonstrated legal adulthood. Nothing more.

Adult Verified does not imply:

  • identity, in the legal or civil sense;
  • experience in the lifestyle;
  • community reputation;
  • compatibility with any particular person;
  • endorsement by The Cellars.

3. Cellar Verified

Cellar Verified is the highest mark of institutional trust The Cellars confers. It is reserved by the Châtelaine (or the Ivy Regent acting on her behalf) for members in whom the Administration has developed a particularly high level of confidence.

Cellar Verified always includes Adult Verified. A Cellar Verified member is therefore shown with both badges. The single badge alone is never displayed: Cellar Verified without Adult Verified would be a contradiction.

Cellar Verified is not a certificate of moral character. It does not guarantee compatibility, nor does it recommend the member to anyone. It simply records that the Administration trusts them in a way it does not trust most.

4. Personal responsibility

Verification never replaces judgement. Every member retains the full responsibility — and the full dignity — of choosing whom they trust, how far, and on what terms. A badge is information. It is not advice, and it is not protection.

5. Interactions with non-Adult-Verified members

Most members of The Cellars are not Adult Verified. They have attested to legal adulthood; the Administration has not yet independently confirmed it. Each member must decide their own comfort level when interacting with members who do not yet carry the badge. Some prefer to engage only with verified members; others do not. Both choices are legitimate.

Verification Required

If the Administration has reasonable grounds to question whether a member is legally an adult, The Cellars may flag the account as Verification Required and ask for Adult Verification as a condition of continued membership. Failure to cooperate may result in suspension or removal.

This is an administrative safeguard, not a disciplinary sanction. It exists so that the community can remain confidently adults-only without requiring identity disclosure from every member.

Administrative measures are separate

Verification is about trust. Sanctions are about conduct. The two should not be confused. The Cellars' ladder of administrative measures — Warning, Silence, Temporary Ban, Permanent Ban — is described under Authority & Offices. A member's disciplinary history is confidential and is considered together when evaluating repeated misconduct.