At first I thought like this also, but due to the explaining on this thread I realized I was wrong. I would create characters having a cabal in mind pick my ethos and alignment on character creation then read a helpfile on the cabal I had in mind.. it ends up with a character of the wrong align/ethos.

After reading some things below it sparked a thought. I guess the cabals are like the main organizations of thera.. that doesn't mean there can't be small ones. I don't think CF limits a character so much that he/she couldn't create a group and kind of do things their way. Also, characters could be really stoked on their guilds and have guild wars even. Probably wouldn't take much to get those kinds of things going. So, the sparked thought would be RP doesn't have to completely revolve around the cabals. Do what you want.