A) A super-nation is our generic term for super-large nations composed of several nations, i.e. the Union and Confederacy. Super-nations generally have utterly vast amounts of land (often comprising tens of thousands of worlds and smaller countries). For the most part nations or sub-nations within the super-nations retain most of their original systems of law and order so long as they're generally alligned with the super-nation's goals and ideals - however, there are always some differences, such as unified currency and the like.
A) The Union is generically the "good guy" faction. They generally stand for democracy, freedom, etc. They are, however, not like most MU*'s good guy factions - they are willing to do what it takes to win. They are willing to have bad guys assassinated, blow up cities and whatnot. That said they will almost always do everything reasonably possible to keep innocent people, even those from the Confederacy, relatively safe and out of their conflict.
A) The Confederacy is generically the "bad guy" faction. They stand for a variety of things, but for the most part they are united to try to destroy the Union. Confederate moral compasses vary wildly, mostly varying between neutral to amoral to true evil. In general they are willing to promote terrorism, attack civilians, conquer territory, etc. However, they also try to do much of this covertly in order to help the court of public opinion.
A) These cities were formed many years ago as a sort of neutral conglomerate. They stay out of the war. There are limited hot pursuit pacts with the Union and Confederacy, but applying for asylum, even via radio, will sometimes get you out of hot water. The Union and Confederacy could crush them, but it would be a very costly victory as Cirrus and Marine are very powerful relatively speaking.
A) Civilians are those who are in a particular supernation but aren't actually in the military. They have a faction tag of Unaffiliated but a rank tag of either U or C, depending on if they're in the Union or Confederacy, respectively. Although they ICly have the rights of a citizen of that nation and will be protected as such, they also do not have access to most military assets, i.e. bases, radio channels, secrets, etc. Please see the section on discouraging new players starting with unaffiliated characters.
A) Damn near everything. The "Faction" tag only counts for the military you're alligned with. Unaffiliated people include Union and Confederate civilians with the U and C tags for rank, respectively. However, those with an X rank depend on their IC situation; they may rule their own country, they may be entirely unalligned with any country, or anything else.
A) The focus of the MU*'s RP efforts are on the factions. These are in existance to cause people to come together, which in many multitheme settings they do not if left to their own devices. Unaffiliated characters as a result often have very difficult times with getting RP or getting involved in things. They require a large amount of proactiveness and often knowing people already.
A) Allies are generally people who are closely allied with the factional military but are NOT in the traditional ranking structure. Though ICly they are rare, OOCly among the player characters they are quite common. Although allies are not part of the ranked structure that does not mean they have no obligations. In general allies have to obey officers in combat and on operations. They can be court-martialed, imprisoned, fired and even executed for gross misconduct. However, they also get a lot more freedom in terms of things such as accepting missions. However, allies MUST contribute in some meaningful way. Allies also get access to factional resources and a paycheck. Often more trusted/senior allies get more pull (some even take command on a fairly regular basis), but this is not always the case. USUALLY people who are not "traditionally" in the military, i.e. teenage heros, are allies.
A) Confederate-only folks that aren't quite allies but are non-aggressively aligned with the Confederacy. They have minimal access to resources.
A) A factional head, the rank of Field Marshal (10 on the scale) is the highest general-purpose officer there is. They are responsible for the general conduct of the entire military as well as some various policy implementation details. They're also responsible for OOC factors in terms of helping to run their factions. Facheads also get access to a special high-powered "armor mode", which they can take out on special occasions that make them exceptionally powerful.
A) Rank 11's are essentially the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the various factions. They are old facheads, for the most part. Although they still have a great deal of sway and authority, the fachead is ultimately responsible for the faction, and usually has as much authority as the rank 11's - and in some cases may have more authority than the rank 11's. Often, ICly the rank 11's take care of more administrative aspects, i.e. meeting with the head-of-state and whatnot.
A) This varies depending on who you are, what rank you are, etc. In general, the bottom line is CONTRIBUTE. Help out. If you're not a fighter, provide healing RP after fights. If you are a fighter, help fight! If you're a lab genius, try to put together neat and interesting inventions. If you're a ranker, lead. Although we're not super-tight on this, if you're constantly slacking you may get a talking to. If you're REALLY bad and acting as a detrimental influence you may get thrown out.
A) There's a few different things that have to do with leaving or resigning from your faction. Technically you can lose consent-based death by leaving your faction, though this is very very rare. Usually an honorable discharge will NOT result in losing consent-based death.
When you resign from a faction, you become an unaffil with a Union or Confederate citizenship as appropriate, unless otherwise requested in which case you have no citizenship whatsoever in terms of MUSH-wide factions. This is not a good thing, but it's your choice.
Defection is a much more sticky widget. This means you're either immediately going from one faction to the other or after a time going to the faction opposing the one you originated at. Either one requires admin approval and can lead to loss of consent-based death. Going immediately from one faction to another is very likely to result in this. It can also cause OOC animosity.
Note that the admin can deny a defection for ANY REASON THEY SEE FIT, as well as a resignation. However, resignations are usually given a pass. Also note that unaffiliates have a much harder time with RP at times than characters in the factions; remember, you lose ALL access to HQ, any factional equipment, medical help, resources, etc. etc. If you surrender your citizenship you may be losing everything; depending on the circumstances you might even lose property your character owns.
There is one major exception to the defection problem - if you know that this may or probably will happen, mention it in your app with as much detail as to why. Sometimes we let FCs who have done so in canon do this with relatively little hassle, but if you mention that you were planning this on the character from the start we're a lot more willing to work with you.