Sticky situation! I really can't give you an answer, but - On the new worlds like Omega in the EU cluster, there is an experience buff going on which is substantial. You could roll a character there, level it up as you want, invest in the story-skip potions and then wait/hope/pray to transfer back to Balmung in the future - or seek out somewhere like Mateus for RP in the meantime, depending on your time zone of course. It's not the same as getting your characters back, but the exp buff and the story skip potions at least make starting anew bearable.
