The fog of war is transparent, not pitch black. You will see everything, it's just as a sort of indication of what area you've explored and not.
Edit: You wont see other nations until you've explored the area though, but the layout is visable to you. It's up to you to RP not knowing the exact layout IC.

As to the sheets, you're not really supposed to write one! All you have to do is choose a race in the IC and start up from there. You're free to write a sheet with history and such if you want to in the character section, but other than that you basicly start from scratch so the only thing that matters is your race and what you do from there.

[i]Edit: Added a mention in the OP saying "You don't even need a sheet!"[/i]