For #2 another option besides A Few Seconds Ahead might be a modified Sacred Guardian power. I used one for one of my characters in the Boston game.

Foresight [-1]: as a slightly modified Sacred Guardian.
**Combat Clairvoyance. Eli may gain a boost to his attack rolls or defense rolls by inflicting a mental stress hit upon himself, gaining a +1 for each point of stress in the hit. This bonus cannot be greater than the maximum length of his mental stress track.
**Psychic? Definitely. Eli gains a +2 bonus to Alertness when rolling against surprise.

You can look at him more here for his build.

Check out this post on the Deadly Freddy blog called State of the Hat. Paranet Papers, Fate Core, one-shots. I think this has all the information you are looking for. 

I know a lot of people act like it is just Ritual: Crafting, but remember she makes wards and the like.  It probably can cover most aspects of Thaumaturgy.

(Primary creator of the above Rune Magic writeup) Hence the reason it can "emulate any Evocation or Thaumaturgy effect," if I could update the writeup in one way it might let you make the large scale wards (like Marcone's manor) without spending your slots. I don't think that would be a big change to the power, I know in my experience I don't see wards get used very much... Though I'm not quite sure how that would effect the creation of the Living Lightning ward/trap (in Small Favor).

Other changes I may consider would be a +1 bonus to crafting strength or frequency (or both) to reflect the imbued knowledge of how to create runes. Again, not quite sure how that might effect the base cost of the power. Of course some of these changes/updates might be covered by the minimum -3 cost of the power (since Evocation does not give a rebate).

well if Hobb votes for Al for Favorite PC, I'm voting for Faraday 

I'll vote Seattle as the game of the year as well.

Added a couple of my own.

Some aspects ideas for the main characters off the top of my head:

Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
* What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar.
* Loves Inara
* Aim to Misbehave
* Big Damn Hero

Inara:
* Companion
* High Class Lady
* Damn it Mal
* It's Frustrating to Love Mal

Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
* Innocent Criminal
* Pines for Simon

Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
* The Bible is Somewhat Fuzzier on the Subject of Kneecaps

Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
* Money makes me stupid

Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Doctor
* Focused on Helping My Mei-Mei

River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
* Empathic Mindreader
* I Can Kill You With My Brain
* They Made Me a Weapon

Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
* Married to Zoe
* Oh God, Oh God, We're All Going to Die!

Zoe:
* Warrior Woman
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
* Married to Wash

I've been toying around with a "Battery"-based Hunger character, one that takes their power from the environment rather than from people. I may have gone a bit Kryptonian with this one, but I like it.

Solar Powered Scion
EMT Training (Scholarship) [-1]; You are at +2 when using Scholarship to administer medical care.
Involuntary Human Form [+2] (Needs Direct Sunlight)
~~Supernatural Recovery [-4]
Human Guise [-0]
~~Aura of Light [-0]; Based on the Faerie Light (or whatever it is called) power that Pixie's have in OW.
Solar Powered [+1]; as a Modified Feeding Dependency (uses Endurance for the Hunger track, can’t kill to remove stress, as long as he is in direct sunlight he does not need to opt out of a scene to recover from Hunger stress)
~~Sunfire (Breath Weapon) [-2];
~~Wings [-1]; Made of fiery light.
~~Inhuman Speed [-2]

Superb: Endurance
Great: Athletics, Weapons
Good: Empathy, Presence
Fair:  Investigation, Rapport, Scholarship
Average: Alertness, Conviction, Discipline, Intimidation, Lore

P - OOOO, +1 Mild
M - OOO
S - OOOO
H - OOOO, +1 Mild

If Submerged, add:

Healing Light [-2]
Description: By channeling your supernatural energy into somebody else you allow them to begin the healing process, and may even help them recover to perfect health.
Skills Affected: Empathy
Effects:
Starting Recovery. You may use this power to make Empathy declarations (modified by Scholarship’s Medical Attention trapping) to justify the start of natural recovery from physical consequences, just as if they'd gone to a doctor or the hospital.
Healing Pool. You have a pool of healing power equal to your Empathy.
Healing Surge. You may spend a fate point to allow somebody to recover from all of their physical consequences up to Severe as if they were a Mild. Subtract the value of the highest consequence so affected from your Healing Pool.
Healing Backlash. At the end of the scene you must roll against a hunger attack with a value equal to the number of negative points in your healing pool. If you have used other powers attached to your Feeding Dependency during the course of the scene, this (positive) value is added to the overall strength of the hunger attack you would suffer from use of your powers instead.

Superb: Endurance
Great: Athletics, Empathy, Weapons
Good: Presence, Rapport, Scholarship
Fair: Alertness, Discipline, Investigation
Average: Conviction, Intimidation, Lore

I'll second Koffey and Hobb for players of the year.

Could I suggest another category? Best Sounding Board

It'd be for those that give help to others when building characters or cities. Sorta similar to Best Board Contributor, but on a more personal level. I'd nominate HobbitGuy1420 and KOFFEYKID for this. In chat, they are some of the people I talk to most when trying to suss out a character idea, or stunt/power, or plotline.