Well, hi there.
Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the role-playing aspect of the server (at least here).
I play Olorae, leader of the Echoes of Darkness (
http://www.rimwall.com/echoes), which is the dark ("evil") clan on the server. We are the ones that go bump in the night, though we've been a bit silent lately.
Don't worry, we're going bump again this weekend.
There are also a few other clans of note:
The Einhasad Templars (
http://home.comcast.net/~lordturalyon/index.html), led by TuralyonGilnea. The military arm of the Church of Einhasad and the "good" guys.
The Abyssal Guard (
http://abyssalguard.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=events&action=display&thread=11556 51522&page=2), led by Kirisa. The military arm of the Church of Shilen, and the somewhat less-dark version of my clan. They're identified as "good" by most of their members, but I say it's just a matter of time.
Illuminaire (
http://illuminaire.twistedsword.com/index2.html), led by the lovely, lovely Laelyn. They are seekers of knowledge and wisdom, observers of all that occurs. If you're looking to stay neutral in terms of the RP community (not necessarily the big two alliances), this is the way to go.
TheGoddesses, led by Dananerys (I probably missed an "N" in there somewhere) are an all-female (character) RP-friendly clan. RP-friendly means that while they are not an RP clan, there are clan members that do RP. I've got a lot of respect for them, they've been around for a long while now.
I'm sure I'm missing a few, but these are the ones that spring to mind. I would recommend visiting
http://www.l2rpa.org and saying hi, as that's the central hub for most of the role-players, despite the server.
As far as raids, if you want the really big ones, you talk to either Invincible or Chaos. Just try to talk to both of them, or you might end up in a sticky situation.
[Edited to include known links to clan websites]