When you start a new character in BattleMaster, you will begin with an estate (if you selected one - which is recommended), some gold from your family treasury, and a small army to defend your lands and aid your liege or realm in war.

Time in Battlemaster

In Battlemaster, everything you do happens in a turn. You get 12 hours in that turn to perform actions. For example, repairing equipment, recruiting troops, civil work, and looting all require a certain number of hours to complete. The turn occurs at 4AM and 4PM UTC (except on the Colonies, where there is one turn per day). You will need to manage your time to ensure that you can get everything you need done.

Forming your personal Army

As a new noble, your unit is probably small and weak and requires some reorganizing. It is almost assured you will not have enough money to do this right away, but after your first bit of tax income, which happens around once a game week, you should be able to upgrade your troops.

As a first step, you should go to the capital and recruit as many new soldiers as possible (under the "orders" list of options). For archers, weapons are the most important stat. For all other units, both weapons and armor are important. You want to make sure you have enough money to pay your men, so do not spend all your money if you cannot afford both. You can use your military adviser in the information screen to see what your men will cost.

Secondly, most cities should have healers and banner-men available. You should hire 1 healer for ever 30 men in your army, and 1 banner-man for the same. These are not as useful for archers, unless they get into melee combat (which would be bad anyway - archers aren't meant to engage in melee).

Finally, you should pick up around 10-12 scouts in rural regions around your realm that have a scout's guild. These will not only allow you to scout adjacent territories, but also speed up your unit movement by finding the best path.

Joining the Army

Unless you are looking for a career at the court, joining one of the armies of your realm is strongly recommended. Joining an army has two main advantages: you get information about where to go and what to do from the marshal of the army and the army war chest will pay for parts of your unit upkeep, such as repairs or training.

Unfortunately, you can not really "join" an army. Your liege lord has to assign you. Therefore, one of the first things you should do after creating your character is send a message to your liege, normally a lord or duke, and ask him or her to assign you to an army. Try to get involved in a military campaign or expedition, as combat and battles gain you much needed honor and prestige. Military campaigns can also gain you respect from your peers.

Making a Name for Yourself

Progress in BattleMaster is mostly political. For most interesting parts you need to be either appointed or elected. In either case, people need to know your name. You must become famous. This is definitely a long-term goal, but you cannot start early enough. Here are some ways to make a name for yourself:

Train your swordfighting and/or jousting and try to win a Tournament.
Become a hero on the battlefield - if your unit is the last one standing, people might notice.
Become an adviser to your lord, duke, or king - If you know how to manage a region, or a realm, try to speak to the proper people and convince them that you know things.
Be there when needed - It doesn't grant you instant fame, but if it is you again and again who is there to defend the capital, or join the raiding force, or even just do some police work in a difficult to control region, then after a while people will remember you.
Rebel, murder, secede - there are many less honourable options that are sure to make you (in)famous. Try them if nothing else works.

Becoming Lord

The most difficult path is to become a region lord. Since all lands belong to the duke or king, you need to be appointed to this position, which means you will have to be noticed by the duke or king first. So this is more of a long-term goal and not really available to you as a newcomer. Not to mention, there are minimum Honour and Prestige requirements.