If you are new, be allies with your neighbors. you can always change your mind later and break allies. During your newbie protection, you don't have to worry about attacks anyway so if you want to hold off on accepting ally requests, you can always request it again later. Right now focus on building your kingdom to at least 4 cities, then start looking for a lord. You can check server stats to see how powerful the lords on your server are, or you can look for players near you. Or, post a request on the forum to look for one and have them fight over you by offering you areas for training your heroes, etc.