Yes, it has some intrigues and politics, but You will be incompetent (which is okay since you are a newbie) so in the Empire you will get kicked by your cabalmates as well.

Try Battle (hard to get in though since you have to kill some mages first), Nexus, Fortress. Fortress is the best imo. Newbie friendly goodie cabal.

>How many times do you have to die before you die permanently?
More than 50 times roughly

>It also sucks that 500 hours kills you permanently. That's a lot of >time to put in to a character to lose them. I clocked way over that in >my old mud, and I would have hated to start all over again.

>How do you guys handle that, exactly?
Well its not that bad imo. In most cases people get tired from their chars much earlier, about 150-350 hours and delete them. Half drows have decent lifespan, so you should be okay.