Here on Heir Apparent we have a character progression system (formerly called our “leveling system”) that was specifically designed to help track characters within the world. The focus of the progression system is to give helpful ranking to characters while keeping the emphasis on the story. All new characters will be run through an algorithm to determine their starting placement within the system. Characters have two main areas of progression that we will track: the social and the physical. For the sake of our system, we will call them reputation and skills mastery.

Please note: not all characters will be actively progressing. Some of us have characters, especially minors, that are sitting comfortably and we have no aspirations to see them grow. That is totally fine! This new system will allow them to sit in their proper place in the world without members needing lift a finger.

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A character’s reputation encompasses the opinion that others have for the character. Granted, there will always be individual exceptions, but apart from contradictory personal experiences, the reputation should be used as a relatively objective guide for new acquaintances and non-played characters. A character’s reputation is developed by the kinds of things they do. The history of a character will decide much about where their reputation begins, and then what they do as their story unfolds will determine where it goes and how it changes. The four realms of reputation are listed below.

Areas of Reputation
Personal: (reputation among family and friends)
Class: (reputation within their social sphere dictated by class and occupation)
Kingdom: (reputation within the kingdom they hail from)
Terra Nova: (inter-kingdom reputation)

Reputation Ranks
Unknown - characters that have yet to leave any kind of mark
Neutral - somewhat known, people have little to say
Honored/Dishonored - small deeds done to earn a general sense of positive or negative attention
Revered/Hated - deeply and widely respected or hated
Exalted/Infamous - known by virtually everyone for holding great power
Legendary - barely attainable, only characters that turn the tides of history will ever be set in books and remembered for ages

Skills Mastery is the character’s progression towards mastering skills, whether combative or magical. This is not all-inclusive of skills a character has, of course, but tracks the ones relevant to magical/combative altercations.

Combative Skills
Armed Melee: (proficiency in the use of sword, mace, hammer, etc)
Marksmanship: (proficiency in archery, spear throwing, dagger throwing, etc)
Hand-to-Hand: (proficiency in boxing, wrestling, judo, etc.)

Magical Skills
Stamina: (how much and for how long an individual can draw on magic before becoming fatigued)
Precision: (how neat/sloppy the preformed magic is)
Power: (potency of what they can do)

Skills Mastery Ranks
Untrained - no knowledge or training
Novice - beginner, still learning the basics
Apprentice - not new to the skill but not yet entirely independent
Journeyman - independent, can teach others, considered professional
Specialist - accomplished, stands a cut above the rest, is known
Master - total dominance of the skill, performs with ease and accuracy
Grandmaster - hardly attainable, legendary feats within a skill

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The progress of your character in reputation or skills mastery will be done by staff. They will be keeping a special eye on the world and the characters, notating character training and accomplishments. Growth, especially in the mid to later ranks, will take IC time. Only a novice or apprentice may see back to back development.

In general, when considering how to grow your character in reputation, commit your character to doing things that develop his/her reputation. A hermit will not be developing popularity. Likewise, for skills mastery, your character must train, practice, and practically apply their skills in real situations to improve in them. This is no longer based on post count and the presence of a single training thread, as we did leveling in the past, but now must be a consistent, incorporated part of what your character is doing.

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We have maintained a way to reward character activity, and that is by giving special advantages to characters as they reach specific posting milestones. Upon reaching these milestones, the member playing the character will collaborate with me (Eloell ) to determine a reward for the character that fits within the progress of that character. For a gifted of Lorendale, it may be unlocking a new aspect of their gift. For a witch of Nevermere, it may be developing a new, witch-magic based ability. For a nonmagic noble, it may be discovering a powerful magical object, or finding themselves suddenly blessed with magic. The options are limited only by commitment to the progress of the story and consistency within the world.

Milestones
500 posts
1,000 posts
2,000 posts
4,000 posts
8,000 posts
Etc…