I'm hoping there won't be a delay and if so I hope it is a very minor one.
You will be able to customize your character so you can choose sex, face, and I haven't heard anything about voice but I would think you would be able to.
Now for the empires. Vanu are |337! We have the coolest weaponry, vehicles, and armor in the game. To get a close look at our armor, go to:
www.vanusovereignty.com
From there, click on any of the pictures of armor and you will see all the different armor for the Vanu. The same goes for NC and TR:
www.newconglomerate.com
www.terranrepublic.com
EDIT - TR armor still hasn't been put up on the webpage yet.