Hello and welcome, if I had to summarize five points, here's what I'd say.
1. Don't be intimidated by all the rules and guidelines. They boil down mostly to "Don't ruin others' fun and don't game the system"
2. Submitting your first character can be daunting. Maybe consider something very simple to get you familiar with things in game, like a NG Fighter for example.
Following the template makes it easy.
3. Join
Discord to ask any questions or just to chat.
4. You begin on the continent of Mistone in a small town called Center, there are many NPCs around who are looking for help. If you can find another PC to help you out it will make things easier. You will be listed as Unknown to others until you introduce yourself with =c introarea John Doe for example. Others you will see will be listed as Unknown too until they introduce themselves to you.
5. The wiki currently has a lot of information but it's being migrated from an old system and we need more structure. The
Game Systems page helps explain a lot of things that Layonara has added. Also be sure to check out the
Beginner's Guide.