1. I'd love to get a Rohlhoff but I don't have the budget. :/
2. It sounds silly but I want to avoid using drum brakes because I don't like bare canti posts. If I were to go that route I'd prefer to have drums in the front and back so I can go for NMSW rims.
3. I was thinking about a 1x9 but wasn't sure if that was something that people did.

Well I gotta say I'm leaning more to a derailer system now. That said, do they make drum brakes for cassette hubs?