bump and update: i've broke ground. the loser and i are building the centerpiece first, once i can confirm that we have enough space to do what we want to do, that's when we open the server to people to start building.
this will be a little bit of a process since i'm doing this from scratch, but i'm making good progress. in about a week or so we'll start officially opening sign ups.
i'll update the OP soon to make it look more in the beta stage too.