Before you can actually start playing the game you will have to first Incarnate as a Prophet into the world of Dalines. Incarnation is done by naming your Prophet, naming your Religion and picking the gender of your Prophet. In addition to these settings you will also have to select the Deck you will be playing with. Decks can be created by you, however, you can also select from pre-made free decks. If it is your first time playing the game, you should pick the "Starter Deck" to get acquainted with the game.
Don't worry about "losing", even participating in a game will earn you rewards!
Upon incarnation your Prophet will be dropped in one of the available cities in the world of Dalines. This is your starting hub, you will be given some Resources.
Most action require a resource to be completed. For example drawing a card from your deck costs Action Points (2 at the moment). This means that when you decide to draw a card from your deck, the number of Action Points will be subtracted from your total. Drawing a card is a good starting action as your current "hand" will be empty. You start with enough Action Points to be able to draw at least one card (5 at the moment).
Each "turn" or "tick" in the game will grant you an additional Action Point. You can view your hand of cards at any moment, even if your Prophet is busy. You can Cast or Discard cards which are currently in your hand.
Depending on your play style, or which Supremacy Points have your focus, setting up an economy is usually an important aspect. Your economy is based on production chains. These chains consist of one or more production buildings. Buildings are constructed with specific resources, usually Wood and Stone as well as a bit of Faith, after all, if your workers don't have Faith the construction might collapse upon them and crush them!
In order to construct buildings your followers will need to know how to construct these buildings; you need their Blue Prints. Blue Prints are drawn from a separate stack of cards and cost more Action Points than drawing a normal card. However, once you obtain a Blue Print you can make as many of the building type as you want (as long as you have the construction resources).