>I think I am going to play a half drow assassin. I generally
>stick with the first character I make, so I want it to be the
>one I want to play even if it is a bit harder. Also, I want to
>be in with the "bad guys" as I play evil a lot better than
>good.

Half-Drows make very decent assassins, stat-wise IMO. Great Dex. Mithril will hurt you a bit, though not as much as a full-blooded drow. I'm probably in the minority of folks here who would recommend playing an evil for your first character-- lots of conflict, and few restrictions can be fun to cut your teeth on. I don't think you get the full feel of CF's intense environment of "watch your back, anyone will kill you" unless you play an evil character ;).

>What cabals are evil, and how does one go about joining a
>cabal? What cabals are the most politics intensive (I like
>politics.)

Uhm.. Empire has probably the most intra-cabal politics. But it can be difficult-- though not impossible if you kiss the right arses :). It is very very easy to join this cabal (I'll let you figure it out heh)-- as long as you are orderly/evil. My only advice would be to be sure to ask questions (in-character of course) if you are unsure of protocol. This can target you as a "newb", but there are absolutely a few key pieces of Imperial knowledge which are somewhat esoteric.

>How does one gain skills? Is it by level?

Yes, you gain skills upon certain levels, and improve them through training with your guildmaster (using skill points), and improve them further by using them.

>
>Oh, this game doesn't have perma-death does it? If so, under
>what conditions?

Yes, there are three ways to permanantly be dead: 1) Play your character for many hours, through old age (generally 500+ hours of playtime i.e. a LOT); 2) Die enough times. 3) type "delete;delete".

One and two rarely happen, and if you achieve either on your first character then you have really accomplished something and will have learned a lot!