Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-9716469-20130519102355/@comment-7153552-20130523232205

You have to think of the three racial-factions like that of EVE Online, or of the Horde and Alliance in WoW, not like guilds in TES series. Your faction determines the races you get to pick, and I imagine that the race you pick will determine where you start, possibly your class selection, too. Although that last part has been circumvented of late by other games. Neverwinter, for example, allows you to be any class on all the races.

As far as playing as an Imperial, they might allow it down the road. I would guess that if they do there are a few options on how to make it work without corrupting the currently established story (the EQ method of once it's gone it's gone, or the WoW method of ignoring previous stories and allowing something new and contradictory to be told while you continue to play through conflicting storylines), but that's a conversation for another thread and another day.