My normal turnaround for character approval is a couple hours. It's never, ever longer than 24 hours, and that would be a real fluke.
It's definitely easy to die really fast, but that doesn't have to be the norm. Furthermore, new players, if they die within the first few hours of play, will actually respawn. This goes away for more veteran players.
I can definitely provide some tips for getting started. One would be to start in Allanak, and the other would be to make a character interested in joining the T'zai Byn, which is a mercenary company that very frequently trains new PCs and new players. Another thing you could do is sit in the tavern as say "I'm from the farming villages, looking for work." People will jump all over that shit and try to get you jobs.
PCs and NPCs are mean as shit. Players are very nice and accommodating, especially of new players.
If you start in the slums (Labyrinth), or one of the remote locations (Red Storm, Luir's), there's a higher chance of you dying quickly. I suggest Allanak, and I suggest shooting for the Byn.
Don't expect your character coddled, though. The byn is filled with mean, nasty, cutthroat mercenaries -- but that's part of the fun. Just like DF, you should strive to find interesting ways to die.
For fun, here's a list of all the characters I've had over the past 7 years:
1)
Feco - A house servant, and aspiring assassin. Ate by a giant bug.
2)
Akale - A ranger, and hunter for the merchant house Salarr. Was loosely based on Mr. Eko from Lost. Got in a fight with a gith raider while hunting, and was killed.
3)
Nemilrer - A mutated elf-creature from the Labyrinth -- crime ridden slums in Allanak. Killed by a spice addict, for his boots.
4)
Esstas - A sneak who made his living grebbing salt in the salt-flats. Was killed by someone in the waste via throwing knife. Never found out who. Suspect it was one of the Red Fang, a notorious tribe of elven raiders.
5)
Swarthy - Aspiring silt sea pirate. Cut his hand on a poison plant and died.
6)
Kaves - A very successful weaponscrafter and merchant. Had the opportunity to craft a metal weapon, which is unheard of. Got cocky and walked through a bad neighborhood. A hobo clubbed him to death.
7)
Arlkadi - Red Fang raider. Retired.
Persapheen - Another aspiring silt pirate. Was clubbed to death by a mul, which is an unstable half-dwarf, half-human.
9)
Thiel - A ranger and hunter. Rode off a cliff, and tried to catch himself on the way down too many time. Basically smacked rocks all the way down and died.
10)
Ser - A burglar in the pocket of the Allanaki Templarate (the warrior-priests who run the show). Retired.
11)
Enali - A stone magicker, gemmed (meaning he was a magick slave of the Allanaki Templarate). Got cocky, and fell down a hole into a nest of gith.
12)
Tirden - Silt-sea explorer. Was eaten by a nasty, secret beastie.
13)
Echas - A secret Tuluki water magicker. Was killed by a vicious creature called a Kryl.
14)
Nem - A burglar, who stayed relatively unknown. Retired.
15)
Athelmil - A wind magicker who (again) got cocky. Killed by a surprise sentient plant.
16)
Thal - A gemmed stone elementalist. Retired to play a Templar role.
17)
Kalakiin Rennik - A blue-robed Templar of Allanak. Got obsessed with ancient stories of void-magick, and did some stuff I can't talk about without spoiling. Retired.
18)
Ramit - A half-giant hunter. Got ate by a beetle.
19)
Amos - A crafty, mustachioed member of the Guild -- a secretive organization sort of like a street gang + the mafia. Vicious murderer, burglar, and racist. Was surprise attacked by a half-breed and killed.
20)
Rakh - (Redacted)
21)
Karlade - (Redacted)
22)
Vorsing - A horrific, half-elf, tribal void-elementalist who lived exclusively in the cities, risking the wrath of the Sorcerer-Kings. Was amassing cult followers. Was discovered by a home-invader, captured by the Templarate, and summarily executed, in secret.
23)
Detum - (Redacted)
24)
Brundle - A half-giant hunter who worked for House Kadius, one of the major merchant houses. Retired.
25)
Tantamar - A shadow magicker. Details redacted.
26)
Rill - An Allanaki spy, sent to Tuluk to commit acts of terrorism. Listed on the history page, but not by name. Managed to infiltrate the Tuluki military, and climbed the ranks a bit. Routed a Tuluki battle-squad during a battle, and provided information needed for the eventual acts of terrorism.
27)
Enthir - A fire-magicker that joined a rogue group of terrorist magickers. Was one of the last living members of the group, to my knowledge. Got ate by a beetle.
28)
Khalid - A psionicist and aspiring raider. Got bit by a snake and died in agony.
29) (Redacted) These PCs have all existed within the past year -- so they cannot be talked about, at risk of ruining interesting ingame secrets and such.
30) (Redacted)
31) (Redacted)
32) (Redacted)