Play it safe to start. As I said before, at the start, just learn a few required skills. Those should be four standard skills for almost every noble in Olympia. If you are going to invest alot of time and money on a noble learning skills, better take the time and noble points to bring that noble up to a Oath 2 rank. There is nothing more frustrating than losing one of your best nobles to a concealed spy hellbent on causing you pain.
Most alliances like to know what is going on in their territory.
Some wont care and will be glad to have you there, others might. Also check around before assuming buildings have been vacated by their owners. I'll try to use this section to address questions posed by new players. Lets face it. It's the new players that keep things intresting.