Originally posted by Weaver:

Progression is by map not by character. So yeah, if you want like a more peaceful world where you can build and chill, you can totally bring your character (and inventory) into a new world. You can bounce back and forth freely between maps.

Soooooooo awesome ... thanks for the reply. Just what I was hoping for. After all my building work (which I love to do so much) only to constantly try to save it from higher level monsters instead of just being allowed to goof around in it building and exploring would have been frustrating.