I suggest that the minecraft world the sever is set in is actualy a recently discovered continent to allow players to have character backstories that start before the beginning of the server by having just recently arrived.
I think that players, after playing for at least a day and having figured out their character, could post their character backstory on the lore section.
Additionally, I think players should make and join factions, for instance, the town of New Beginnings could have multiple factions, all working together or against each other.
Neloplays suggested we could have each of the og 9 origins represent an ancient nation. The 9 nations were at war and destroyed and rebuilt themselves over and over again until they were obliterated, and now only the odd player is left, until (heres my contribution to this lore theory) you started new beginnings and they started flooding in to a more developed, civil society.
Great Ideas! :)