I hate to say it because I love these forums but you guys would have a lot better luck at the Taleworld's forum. I'll see what I can do for you all.
Octavio: You can only recruit from villages when you have 12 troops or less. WF&S is significantly different from Warband in recruitment and troop upgrades. Faction troops generally have regular, veteran, and elite levels (the village troops only go to veteran, but they usually upgrade from what they were down two paths (i.e. Polish scythe-wielder -> Poor Musketeer -> Veteran Poor Musketeer, etc.). Tavern mercenaries never upgrade, but camp mercenaries can upgrade in experience to regular, veteran, and elite, as well as upgrade in gear by using your own wealth. When you come to belong to a faction you can hire troops from their cities (i.e. Swedish Lifeguards) and these are the bread and butter of your armies. The camp mercenaries should be your elite forces, too expensive to sustain a whole army of them.
Robb1993: If you have your own territories you are in a way your own King, albeit of a rebel/bandit faction (which is pretty awesome actually). If you want to be a vassal you must work for a faction (one the existing ones, or one of the pretenders to the throne) before you have any land, and then be awarded land by your liege. Like in Warband, you can work for a faction as a mercenary (get a bit of money, no chance at land, option to renew your contract or not each month), or as a vassal.
Joelainen: As noted above, it's how happy the lords are with their King. If they are unhappy they may defect to another Kingdom, or join your faction, especially if you are propping up a pretender. Disgruntled lords are upset with their King for lack of recognition, restless lords are upset with their King for lack of opportunity (too much peace means no territory to gain). Disloyal lords are more likely to act independently during a campaign, as well.
Warcry: ProneOyster's got it right, you can only send a caravan of what exists in the market. It doesn't show up out of thin air as it used to in previous patches. Caravans are a lot slower at making money with 1.143, but they were overpowered previously. What I like to do is get a mission to go to another city (escort a caravan, herd cattle, deliver message, rescue kidnapped girl, etc.) then send a caravan to the same city, or one very close, and you can accomplish two goals at once. If you're lucky you can hit a bandit or two on the way. This makes money pretty quickly, I think. WF&S is a lot slower game than Warband, you'll spend significantly longer developing yourself into a capable warlord who can take on faction lords.
Hope I've helped