Do Progress in the Ark retained between characters?

I started a new game as a Nova Kid leaving behind a Human character i created when i had completed the Floran artifact quest and was looking for clue to the Hylotl one

When i got to The Ask with my new character i found not only is the Floran girl from the Floran artifact quest was there but the Floran Artifact was in the Arc's door

the answer here says that the universe is retained between characters like structures and the like. so does this mean that if i complete parts of the Artifact obtaining with one character, when i start a new character i skip these? (in this case since my human has gotten my Floran artifact would my Nova Kid skip this?)

Solution 1:

All changes made in the Ark by completing quests (new characters moving into the Ark, and new shops opening in the Outpost) are retained since that's stored into the universe folder. Despite this your new character still has to do all the previous main-story quests of your old character since quest progression is not saved in the universe folder but character folder.