Character health, mana, status effects, and summoned pet are all located in this section. This area shows your character's current condition.
In the image above I've labeled all of the important sections of the in-game user interface. You can read more specific details on these in my skill set guides. You'll have to do this each time you select a new color until the bug is fixed, so decide on a color before you decide on a hair style. Otherwise the color change doesn't register. If you try to change hair colors you need to swap hair styles and then swap back to the style you want.
The only thing that is really worthy of a mention at the moment is the hair color bug. The appearance section has a ridiculous amount of options.
The Nuian and Elves make up one faction, while the Firran and Harani make up the other. There are four races and two factions in ArcheAge. Once ArcheAge enters launch the game will be free-to-play. You can also get the Gold or Silver pack for Beta access. The Archeum pack gets you into Alpha for $150. If you weren't lucky enough to get invited to Alpha, you can still buy your way in with Founder's Packs.