Roleplaying Questions

Hey there LotRO players, my name is Rucifel. Recently I've heard about LotRO going free to play, so I decided to check out the trial for now. As a fairly new, but avid RPer on World of Warcraft, I've been wondering how this RP community fares. I figured that Landroval is the best place to find some RP, but there are a few questions I must ask.

1. Where does the majority of RP take place?

2. I enjoy military/guard RP; can someone tell me of some good military kinships on Landroval?

3. As a noobie to this lore (I've watched the trilogy multiple times and have read The Hobbit), what are some good resources I can use to better my understanding of the world? I'm mainly interested in Gondor, Rohan, and perhaps some elven or dwarven lore.

I hope this wasn't too painful to read...

Thanks in advance for answers :D