saving character info requires doing a mysqldump of the character_ table, directions for that are here-
http://forums.eqemu.net/viewtopic.php?t=6713
as for corpses , they are still working on them, there is a way to actvate corpses but , even when they are activted i haven't been able to get them working right , leaves corpse , but still sends you to bind point with all your stuff.
the setting to make it leave corpses needs to be added to the variables table, add - leavecorpses 1 to the variables.