I found EchelonMC and it is a hand built survival server on 1.21.1. It has been in active development for about 2 months and the owner Eddy keeps building it based on player suggestions. They say over 100 suggestions already got added and updates happen every week.
The vibe is long term building and real progression with a strong community. It is not pay to win and they say there are no resets planned. It also tries to avoid that recycled plugin pack feeling since the systems are made for this server.
There is an Echelites currency you earn by just playing like mining farming fishing exploring and building. There is advanced land claiming with visual borders and lots of protection options like TNT and creeper control fire spread protection raid prevention and more. There are teams with member management and private team chat.
It also has auto pathing where paths form under you and can give speed bonuses and you can toggle it. Public builds can be listed so people can visit vote and climb rankings. There are timed graves so your items are protected with balanced recovery mechanics. The server is hosted in Canada.
EchelonMC Custom Hand Built SMP 1.21.1
GG.MINEWIND.NET New Server IPEchelonMC Custom Built Long Term SMP
EchelonMC is a survival server that feels like it was actually made with care. It is hand built by the owner and it has been in active development for about two months. The server is hosted in Canada and it is trying to be a long term place with real progression and a strong community.
It is not pay to win and it is not trying to do the usual copy paste stuff. They say there are no resets planned and the whole point is to build big over time. A lot of player suggestions have already been added and updates keep coming.
There is a custom currency called Echelites that you earn just by playing like mining farming fishing exploring and building. You can use it for progression and quality of life upgrades.
Protection is a big deal here with advanced land claiming. You get visual borders and lots of settings like TNT and creeper control fire protection raid prevention fluid freeze and mob spawn control. There are options for large projects too like claim bundling and chunk level settings.
It also has auto pathing with speed bonuses that you can toggle. You can make teams invite friends share access and use team chat. You can list builds for people to visit and vote on and there are timed graves so your items are protected with balanced recovery.GG.MINEWIND.NET New Server IP