I answered this based on what I know about non-trad, though answers about 3,5,6,7 and 9 might be different if you're looking at trad.
1: Some people start with making a bio, or they just make a linked account and join a Clan. It depends on what works best for you
2: As many as you want/have muse for!
3: Nope, you can play just about any animal you want, real, mythical, hybrids, or you can make up a species!
4: That depends what you mean by talking about things in real life. If you need to vent about stuff that might be more sensitive, the Support Center is a good place to do that, but there are also chat threads where you're allowed to talk about things that pertain to your real life as well.
5: It's up to you to decide!
6: Again, up to you! Some people age their characters realistically (one moon per month) and others age them one moon when they reach a certain number of posts (such as 100). You can age them in other ways too.
7: When your character dies is up to you, there aren't any rules about when you have to kill them. Actually, you don't have to kill them at all if you don't want to, and you're allowed to bring them back.
9: We have one going on right now in the End Game! Though usually they aren't too often. Clanwide plots that only affect one group tend to be a lot more common, though.
Hope this helped! If you need anything clarified I'll try to answer as best as I can c:
Welcome to Feralfront, by the way!
Edit: Astrea you ninja