I was thinking about this and I came up with this.
Merge all of the worlds back into .net. Looking at all the servers they are all within a 2x2 and dying. United it stands divided it falls.
To welcome and insure there are no hard feelings for closing all of those worlds, I would create a Champions world.
Champions world could have a monetary reward instead of PP. Maybe 20% of foreseen earnings divided to the accounts of a winning tribe. If you are sharing accounts you have to split that winning further.
Could also add a no shared accounts for the first 6 months. Account sitting only. This should also increase the player base at the beginning.
The worlds have been going for some time so choose the most enjoyed settings. No Church and archers, please. Coins.
Further advice for new players would be add a link to the guides in the quests. This way players can take advantage of the hard-work past players have done. They can also understand the game a bit better and know that getting nuked is not the end of the world. They can simply restart on the rim which helps to push the borders out.
I think the idea of a 10x10 is not dead.