Bah i lost my grand empire all my stuff too like you but I even deleted all my pics and got myself banned yet in time...I came back and well now its quite difrent,you know?
The world has not cooled down even yet and things are a level up more serious than in old DP. Since the start there was a long pause (true which i was gone again) but now things are returning back to normal. Each player is at their start (well im a bit ahead but thats because i had to ressurect the RP,dont mean to brag but without my efford it would have probably died...) but if you start there wont be a problem yeah,world is pritty undeveloped so you shouldnt have many stops in making your own character/force/whatever.