I've read info about Eithne, she is NPC that you can trade with later in game. Fane on other hand is a char that you can recruit or play.
For now there is an option to create custom chars, but it requires pretty good pc. You need to start 4 instanes of the game and create multiplayer game in LAN and join those instances, after all chars are created and game is started you can exit in all instances except for your main.
Also, you can start 4 custom chars if you start game with 3 other friends
