Character Experience
Character experience in FaerieMUD is fundamentally tied to developmental objects. If a developmental object (whether a skill, a trait, a statistic, or whatever), acquires sufficient experience (through use) to progress to the next level (or element if you prefer), that object generates a quest which is added to the others which are available to the character. If completed, the quest will advance that particular trait or skill in some way.
If the quest for advancement is not completed by the time the next element is reached, it is discarded, the level is incremented, and the quest for the new (higher) level takes it place.
The amount of experience required to advance is the same for each element of a given period:
The amount of experience required to advance from one period to the next is much greater, reflecting the kind of fundamental change required at these junctures:
These higher values must be paid twice (once to reach the noble gas element and once to reach the next element. The quest generated here will always be a significant quest built around forcing someone to completely rethink their skill (or whatever) and who they are as they relate to the developmental object they are advancing. These quests can be quite painful for the character in that they force that character to grow by shedding some preconception about who they are.
As soon as the character reaches sufficient EPs to reach a noble gas level in any Developmental Object, he or she is thrown into turmoil and the quest is generated. Such a quest always includes a false path which can be taken to relieve the turmoil. But the false path can only be taken at the risk of failing to grow in the way which is needed. Scott Peck has defined evil as "[t]he exercise of political power -- that is the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion -- in order to avoid...spiritual growth." And the false path always offers that choice: to exert the character's will on others to avoid facing the need to shed a preconception about who the character is.
This quest cannot be avoided by additional EPs. (Note also that the character is awarded the noble gas element as soon as he or she reaches it. Completion of the quest should bring the character to the first element of the next level.) It must be completed for the character to proceed beyond the noble gas element. Additional EPs can change the quest, making the next element the character jumps to in the next period higher on the Periodic Table -- but no further development is possible until the quest is completed.
Death
We need more here on how experience, particularly the development of the character's spirit, can survive death and lead to new opportunities for the player's next character.
