• The Explorer's Pack email I received after purchasing the Imperial Edition includes as one of the "digital" rewards "The ability to play as any race in any alliance"
• The digital rewards are listed as arriving at our in-game mailbox beginning April 4th.
• The 5 day early access presumably will begin on or near March 30th.
• I will have access to the Imperial race that can be played in any alliance.
• The ability to play as an Imperial is not listed as a "digital" item like "The ability to play as any race in any alliance" is.

1. Does this mean that on March 30th I could play an Imperial in any alliance but could not play a Khajiit in the Ebonheart Pact (for example) because I do not receive the "digital item" "The ability to play as any race in any alliance" until April 4th?
2. Will I be able to choose an Imperial on March 30th and begin play in, for example, the Ebonheart Pact, or would I be restricted to playing a Nord, Dunmer or Argonian on March 30th (for Ebonheart)--i.e, is the choice to play as an Imperial simply not possible until April 4th?
3. In one of the online FAQ answers, ZOS clearly responded that the digital items are not duplicated to every character on an account, but instead are unique and that to transfer them to other characters I would need to store them in my account-wide bank. Does this mean that I can only ever have one cross-alliance race character (Khajiit in the Ebonheart Pact, for example), or could I create multiple characters (up to however many we can make per account) and have them in other alliances?
4. Will I be able to create multiple Imperial characters and have them in the same or different alliances, or am I limited to one Imperial character on my account?

Good questions. I would like to see some clarification as well.

My first character is going to be an alliance defector, and it would be pointless to play 5 days early if I can not.

I have the same questions.

I think you will have every option from the start. They just decided on these items at different times and have not worded them correctly.

I just talked to an awesome Zenimax support member. You can upgrade to Imperial Edition and Explorer's after launch if you only bought the Standard.

Perhaps, but as it stands it's not at all clear how it will work in practice.

From a purely role-playing perspective, I'd like to have my family of Khajiit flee from Altmer legal authorities into the Ebonheart Pact, but if we can only pick one character instead of several, that won't be possible

It would be great to get these questions cleared up by an official source as soon as possible so as to avoid widespread confusion or even anger. Maybe a moderator could pass these questions on to a Daedric Prince for an official response?

That sounds good, but I'm more interested in the specific character creation questions: Can I start the game 5 days early as a Khajiit in Ebonheart, can we do that for each character or just one per account, multiple Imperials and so forth as outlined in the original post.

i would like to know too. I hope the early access is for the race and pact you want to use. I will be a nord in Ebonheart, and I want to play like this since the 5 days early access.

EDIT: And another question. Is this early access just for the digital version? I guess you can't buy the boxed game 5 days before release?

This is just a guess - it will take a ZOS employee to confirm, but I think the term "digital item" refers to things that actually have a "physical" representation in the game. I.e., they can be seen in your inventory. The ability to make a character of a certain race in a certain alliance doesn't seem to me to be a "item" per se, while a ring, a vanity pet, and even a mount could be.

That's my take.