1. Activity would be pretty lax! I tend to not pressure people to post, since I myself do not like when others pressure me. I'd expect people to post at least once a week? Once every two weeks? If they hold a character with a certain position of power, though, I'd like to see more activity but I do understand real life comes first. However, in the case of event threads, I will enforce a bit of a posting time limit that way the thread does not go stale and the site plot comes to a halt.
2. Aaaahhh, face claims... So since coming back into the RP world, I have considered maybe getting rid of FC's all together... or at least letting them be very open. I would prefer people use animanga-styled artwork, but fantasy artwork is fine, as well as screenshots of characters from the actual XIV. Since that game is beautiful and it is very easy to make good screenshots, I wouldn't mind that! Commissions of characters and original art could also be allowed, but with original art, I do like to know that the artist is okay with people using/editing their works (like scaling down for icons, etc). This also plays into your 2b question. The way it is set up now is that any Final Fantasy race imaginable will be available to play, so long as it is not an Aeon/Summon/Eidolon/God/All-powerful race/etc. So since some of the races would be harder to find FC's for, I think I'll be a bit lax when it comes to FC's and artwork.
3. The site is currently on Proboards, but only because that is what I am comfortable with... But I would 100000% go jcink if I could figure the darn thing out. Like seriously. Every time I try to even add a premade skin, it never turns out right! I don't know what I'm doing wrong lol. So if someone else wants to be in charge of skinning for a jcink host, then please, feel free. Otherwise, it will be on Proboards.
4. I tried to keep the combat system as light yet fun as I could... There are "levels" but they are in the form of ranks, and you rank up by purchasing a "voucher" for the next tier of rank. The ranks are: D < C < B < A < S. There are three things you can rank up, Weapons (for strength), Armor (for defense) and Accessories (which can have fun little enchantments to them. They will mostly be rewards and such.) You cannot have a Rank C weapon without first being Rank C.
   
   Actually... Before I explain more, I'll just link you to the [redacted]. I basically came up with this by myself, so if there are holes or something is confusing... That's why. xD This is all subject to change, as I think about it. I'm an old woman now and I kind of don't want to deal with all the intricacies of a system?? Though I do understand that sometimes it adds a bit of... something to strive for. Though on the other hand, not all characters should start out as Rank D (like if someone is a Captain or something idk.)
   
   So uh, yeah... I am up to tweaking and fixing, if anyone wants to help bounce more ideas off of me. :3