So far we have only one character: Aerandis (Elven Ranger)
I try to do something a little more imersive than generic striker, generic wizard, in a tavern get shanghai'ed into finding the blah, blah blah...
The first post in any character should just be a loose this is the kind of character I want to play, here is his name and this is something about him. Questions like starting gold etc are really dependant on the character concept. If you want to play a street urchin turned adventurer then you would have a much different set of starting resources than say a character who is a member of the aristocracy. Also the types of adventures you would become involved in would likely be vastly different.
I guess what Im saying is you want to be a rich fop, write and post/background about the character being a rich fop and write a narative on getting him to the start point. I am much more interested in what a distinctive character brings to the table than any "in game advantage" that characters background might lend. I try to have a pretty sharp eye for plot potential and will invole characters backgrounds extensivly in adventure design. There will be ramifications to any advantage you might garner from background.
In otherwords if you dont like court intreuge, dont make an aristocrat, if you dont like shady characters from your past showing up dont make a streetwise thug. I try to make the PC's the "star" of their own story and weave thoses stories together in interesting ways.
If you want to play come up with acharacter concept and post a thread, last minute entries and "just showing up" probably wont make the game very enjoyable for you. Without any background documented you will quickly find that the story isnt about you and you may fell like an NPC. More to the point I wont have time to prepare for you and the group experience as a whole may suffer.