Lodestone is a Minecraft server that mixes geopolitics and worldbuilding in one place. It is built around custom ideas that you do not really see on other servers in this genre.

The big feature is Spice Trades. You harvest different spices and then sell them at spawn. The environment you use changes how good your spices are so some land is way better than others. This makes the economy feel different and also makes people want to fight over the best land.

The server uses Towny so players can form towns and nations. You can make alliances or go to war with other groups. It feels like a slow build up where towns grow and then big nation conflicts start.

There are chest shops so players can set up places to buy and sell items with just a chest and a sign. This helps build a player run market on top of the spice system.

Lodestone also has Auraskills. You can level up lots of different skills and unlock new abilities. Even though Auraskills is not custom it is not common on servers like this so it helps change the usual gameplay loop.

Right now Lodestone is in closed beta. You have to apply to be a beta tester and then if you get accepted you can join and start playing on the server early.