First, I would like to welcome you to the boards Paddy. We sith look forward to playing with you soon.
Second, Your post is from your writer account (which for purposes of the boards is considered normally OOC). For your creation to post in character it is suggested you make a character sub account with the name of your character. Everything you post from that is considered IC. For example: Daxton Bane is my character account. Everything I post is taken from Daxton's perspective.
Third, Force Limitations. You can do any force power listed in the wookiepedia, which is considered Canon. The difference being in degree of success. If two force users of the same rank use the force, then it affects them equally. If a force user of a lower rank tries to use the force on a higher ranked, it has less success. Similarly a higher ranked force user can use the force with greater effect and efficiency against a lower ranked user. We usually use common sense and a little imagination to determine force limits.
Fourth, Rank. All new character start off at the lowest rank (Padawan/Sith). Rank progression is usually determined by the quality and quantity of your posts. The more you breath life into the universe the larger the chance you have of progressing. Note, you will still need a master to complete the rank promotion but that is rather easy part.
Fifth, Faction. You do not need a faction to play. Think of a faction like a guild, it pulls like minded folk together to accomplish bigger goals, but you don't need one and can freelance about the galaxy. The biggest factor in factions is when it comes to war, since coordination and joint strikes are essential in winning.
I do look forward to seeing you on the boards soon. Cheers.