The new server is making progress.
PartyM has been helping me with the coding up of some of the logic last night and also helping in designing the plugin API.
We have access control, placing blocks, sending messages and saving of the map done, as well as processing commands from the client via plugins.
Next thing we'll be working on realm switching and allowing plugins to interact with the map and players so we can really start to do some smart things.
Things are starting to get exciting!