[member="Vidar Bothanduster"]
Well, I'd love to answer that to the best of my knowledge.
A.) There's a wonderful--albeit vague--timeline. Which can be
found here.
B.) There's a few major factions which you can
find here (also a map!!!)
C.) You can join a major faction by going to any of the faction pages which can be
found here.
Now, I'm pretty bias'd on this as a minor faction leader but you might also find greater benefit in joining one.
The Ession Reformation and the*coughs*
Primeval are a few of the growing minors. They may also both become major pretty fast (especially Ession). I just personally find that starting from the bottom offers offers a greater experience in overall roleplays but the Major factions all have established and ongoing roleplay in their own unique ways, best left up to what you're interested in!
Other than that I hope I was able to assist
