During character creation, you can choose between 12 forms with different available traits and 4 different wind affinities (basically the sort of magic/skills that a character has an advantage in).
If you want to play a pacifist character or have an easier time with survival aspects then some of these forms are clearly better suited than others.

Dimmed, Goodward and Mosswalker are Eastern Wind forms, which means they have to use fewer knowledge points (that are limited to 1 per level) on nature and survival skills and get to start with one for free. Goodward and Mosswalker can choose two of the most helpful traits (see below), Dimmed one of them. One of the best "sneaky skills" (animal ports, see below) is Eastern, too.

Larker, Mirther and Veiled are Western Wind forms with a knack (or skill point discount) for some sneaky skills (Smoke Cylinder and Knot of Mimarob), a handy light spell/knot and some fun ones. Their starting skills aren't immediately very useful and they aren't great at survival like the Eastern forms, but they also get a few helpful traits to choose.

Crested, Reachant and Ribboned are Northern Wind forms, with an emphasis on healing and protecting. For our purposes, they have teas that restore energy, and you can choose Deep Rest as a free starting skill for the same purpose. With a Ribboned you can choose two of the most helpful traits energy/survival-wise. None of these forms have an advantage in avoiding combat.

Gleaner, Enfolder and Weatherer are Southern Wind forms specialised in fighting, but also trading. Their skills don't help with survival or sneaking, but they have some that can be convenient for more experienced players (affecting walking, running, trade advantages).
They have a few of the more helpful trait options for survival, and the Weatherer can even be Careful.

TL;DR: The Eastern ones (especially Goodward and Mosswalker) are excellent beginner forms.
Western forms can be fun if you aren't too concerned about the survival aspects.
The Northern ones can be good if you want to support fighty companions or if you like them thematically and perhaps don't mind getting attacked or building up levels and skill points before venturing out.
The Southern forms are hailed as the "best" forms by combat-oriented players and can have their perks for peaceful characters once you're a bit familiar with the game mechanics, if you want to get around quickly and build up wealth.

These are traits that you can choose for some of the forms during character creation if you'd like to plan ahead to make things more relaxed.

Careful: If you choose this trait, you'll get a notification when you're getting close to hostile NPCs. Well, at least that's the goal. Right now the trait is slow to react - it often takes a couple of seconds, which can be crucial seconds, even if you're walking rather slowly (don't run into areas that can be dangerous, more on those areas later).
This trait used to flag all kinds of non-hostile NPCs offering duels, which was patched out, but it still seems to flag Shades that you can talk to without getting attacked.
It takes a bit of experience to figure out and you can't always rely on it, but I've still found it very useful especially as a newer player.

Venturesome: With this trait, you'll lose less energy while out walking alone, i.e. it's especially helpful if you're going to do solo exploration. Losing less energy means you'll have to worry less about finding food or other means of keeping that red bar up so you won't pass out and lose a life petal. I have characters both with and without this trait, and it does make a difference.

Peaceful: You gain more energy from resting by a fire. I haven't tried this one, but it would make most sense in combination with the fireplace skill, or if you're going to play with someone else who has that skill (it's widely available, rather cheap and with an Eastern Wind character like Mosswalker or Goodward you don't have to spend a knowledge point on it).

Calm: You gain more energy from eating and drinking. I haven't tried this one to see how much of a difference it makes, but it's probably useful enough to choose if it suits your character.

Stoic: You lose less energy from bad weather. Right now, bad weather doesn't make much of a difference, but the devs have promised/threatened that it will in the future.

It has come to my attention that some choices after character creation will actually start you out in dangerous places where you might get attacked right away...

TL;DR: saying that your journey began traveling by land will let you start in safe areas, and the description of how you got there is pretty chill.

The other journey descriptions are more dramatic, though saying that you got captured and started your journey in the East should be safe if you don't run off into the wrong direction, and saying you don't remember and started in the North will get you to a safe area where you can't make any wrong turns for a while.

If you choose any of the other options, you should do exactly as the near-by NPCs tell you, preferably during daytime...

This section explains some of the relevant gameplay mechanics. Personally, I've found the survival aspects minor and have never been close to 'losing a life petal', but I've seen other (possibly more inexperienced) players struggle with it. Apparently there are also plans to crank up survival aspects in future updates.
For now, (perma)death is turned off until further notice, see this announcement. You can only pass out.


Energy:

You need it to stay conscious, obviously. If there's nothing left of that red bar in the upper left corner of your screen, you pass out and lose a life petal (see below), so check it once in a while, check it quite often in demanding conditions, and try to keep it up.
You use up a little bit of energy constantly (also while you leave the game idle or in the menu!), more while walking, MUCH more while running, and apparently also more while your clothes are wet or you're having other debuff cards active.
You gain energy by eating (more from higher-quality food), a tiny little bit by drinking spring water, bit by bit while resting close to a fireplace, and a lot by drinking teas that mention energy-recovering in their description.

Life Petals:

You've got up to three, though the journey leading to your arrival in Braided Shore leaves you with two. They are going to become important again once permadeath is reintroduced, because if you lose your last one then - your character dies.

There are a few ways of regaining life petals.
The most accessible one that you may not have figured out during the beginner's quest: the smallest of the three deer at the Dandelion Temple can heal life petals
The obscure one: on the island of Myrt on the western side, there's a petal-healing tea hidden behind a tree
The social one: you can ask another player/character who might have the Bandage skill to heal you - either by using the most pitiful symbols you can find and hoping they get it (if they do have the Bandage skill, it's not unlikely) or by asking for help in the discussions on here or in the Discord server's in-game chat.

Beginner's tips: You start out injured, exhausted, and with little food or valuables on you. Take it easy. Don't run around right away. Check out your surroundings and try to find a nice place to rest. Then see if you can locate wild food or gather a few things to trade, or both.


Attacks:

You can get attacked by both humanoid and... other creatures in many areas of the map, especially off the beaten path or at night (more on those areas later). You can avoid a lot of attacks by walking slowly, relying on your Careful trait if you chose it (see below) and/or watching out and/or pressing TAB to highlight hostile NPCs with slightly red backgrounds on their name tags, then making a generous detour around them.
Technically*, you should always be able to flee if you do get attacked, though personally I find combat prompts stressful in themselves, and the whole thing might be disorienting at first if you're not used to combat games.

I'm going to assume that you want to avoid fighting, also because I don't know anything about it. Basically, if you hear an alarming sound and see a red circle like this pop up:
...You can hit the green symbol to flee and get away from combat. I deactivated ("forgot") my Attack Stance and Attack skills so that Flee (as the only relevant one for me) would be easy to spot.

*A bug that affected fleeing seems to be fixed, but apparently an update has shortened the amount of time you get to choose the flee option and it's now quite hectic.


If you get a... one-sided trade menu pop up, you're being mugged and you've got limited time to decide whether to give some of your items to the NPC. To be honest, I always panicked and manually shut down the game when that happened, but apparently you can refuse to give them anything and then do the Flee thing described above.

Fleeing doesn't harm your character. It only auto-moves you to a random place within the same general area, makes you need some rest, and gives a temporary debuff that's irrelevant if you don't want to fight.

These are skills (abilities, knots, teas) that you can acquire and learn during the game, or in some cases start out with.

Assemble Fireplace: It's cozy, dries your clothes, gives you a little bit of energy while resting, and you can share it with others.
Where to get it: possible starting skill for Goodward, Mosswalker, and Dimmed; 24/7 active merchants in Crossings, Bat Saha, several other places

Affinity for Water: Gives you energy while in water. Situational, but there IS a lot of easily accessible water in the game and you have to wade through it to reach certain places. Super metagaming tip: this skill is more rare and much more expensive to "buy"/trade in the game than Assemble Fireplace, in case that helps with deciding which one to take as a starting skill. On the other hand, you'll still be wet once you get out of the water...
Where to get it: possible starting skill for Goodward, Mosswalker, and Dimmed; I've seen it a few times from merchants, at least Retired Adventurer at the Crossings market, Fridays and Saturdays during day time

Create Wind Shelter: So far, effects from bad weather haven't been much of an issue except for roleplay, though rumour has it this is about to change. Like Assemble Fireplace, it's one of the cheapest skills and doesn't cost Eastern Wind characters any knowledge points.
Where to get it: at the general shops in Myr and Crossings, probably some other places

Guiding Spark: Shelter: Honestly haven't tried this one, it seems more useful to just build your own fireplace and/or shelter. As a roleplay choice, sure, why not.
Where to get it: possible starting skill for Goodward, Mosswalker, and Dimmed; quite a lot of merchants, especially those dealing with mystic and knot items

Fishing: gives you food and therefore energy, and items to trade. No-brainer unless you're very vegetarian and/or want to make things more difficult for yourself (like me, apparently?)
Where to get it: fish traders; the one that's most reliably present is the one in Myr

Call Fruit Sapling: the fancy vegetarian alternative to fishing. Uses reagents to create one temporary fruit tree at a time that you and any additional players that may be around (!) can pick one fruit from.
Where to get it: Retired Adventurer at the Crossings market, Fridays and Saturdays during day time

Note that all of these are Eastern Wind skills, i.e. they cost fewer knowledge points (that you gain 1 per level of) for the Eastern forms (Goodward, Mosswalker, Dimmed).

Teas: You can make magical teas by a fireplace if you have the right reagents, though to be honest I only do that as a social thing when meeting other players. My newer characters without survival traits have been happy to make use of the teapots you can freely drink from at teahouses and other places.
The ones that restore energy are Jade Brew and Cotery Brew - both Northern Wind, using reagents that can be found in safe areas, and available at the teahouses in Crossings, Bat Saha and Myr.

Animal ports: Let you transform yourself into various animals, last until you do something that the animal wouldn't do (pick up an item/reagent, talk to someone etc. - you can eat and rest while in animal form). You'll be completely ignored by all NPCs, including hunters and wolves :D
Expensive for newer players, can be hard to find if you aren't lucky, and require a reagent that's mostly found in dangerous places (tufts of animal hair). Very neat for fast travel though (especially the deer port), and for scouting to find out if an area is currently safe for your human form. CANNOT be used for quick escape as it takes 20 seconds to initiate.
Where to get them: From Traveling Knot Binder who sometimes travels along the major roads between Myr and Siram Fields. You can also get one of them as a reward for the quest described in the spoiler text for Fold below.
Safe place to pick tufts of animal hair: You can usually find a few behind the shelter/fireplace southwest in Kuro Orchard.

Smoke Cylinder: You surround yourself with smoke so that hostile NPCs won't notice you. Relatively cheap, but not available in safe areas. Lasts for a certain amount of time that increases with level, or until you interact with something or even just look at something, and has a 10 seconds cooldown time after each use - so if you run out of time among hostiles, you're screwed. Can't be used once combat is initiated.
Where to get it: from the notorious Night Market where bandits sell stolen goods on Tuesday nights in the ruins to the West of Charwood Forest (one of the most dangerous places to get to at night, but people on Discord pointed out that you can get there during daytime and then log in again at night..).
Note that "Tuesday nights" in this game means two separate periods: from midnight to dawn and then from nightfall to midnight - so if you're up late on a Monday you can already catch it, and Tuesday night after midnight is too late.
If you're lucky (or server-hopping), you can also find the Smoke Cylinder skill in loot chests in Mountain's Secret and the Underbelly.

Meld: you become one with a bush until you click to move. The bush manifests itself, so it can be used anywhere. Funny skill with limited usefulness, as you can't move while using it and like the other skills you can't use it once you've been attacked. Good for using the Rest skill to sit down and recover energy in dangerous places though. This one works almost instantly, so you could also use it when you spot enemies early enough and aren't sure where you should run or need some time to think.
Where to get it: Retired Adventurer who walks around at the Crossings market, Fridays and Saturdays during day time; a group of NPCs that sometimes hangs out in Charwood Forest.

Knot of Mimarob: Lets you disguise yourself, and for some reason that won't get you attacked by any hostile creatures. It's expensive and uses rare reagents. You can't use your skills and spells while it's active, but unlike with animal ports or smoke cylinder you can act normally otherwise (incl. talking to NPCs).
Where to get it: the Esoteric Merchant in Bat Saha sometimes has it, and a few of the merchants wandering between Myr and Crossings.

Fold: Lets you teleport to a different point that you can see within a radius that gets really large at higher skill levels (you level up skills by using them). Fancy and handy, can be used to wooosh past hostiles if you're sure there aren't any nearby where you land. Uses a rare reagent though, and is hard to come by especially for a newer character (and not in safe areas).
Where to get it: There are two quests that give you access to it. One of them requires you to reach level 10 first... The other one starts in Little Slip where you wade out to the Swift Mystics in the boat - one of their challenges that vary from day to day will get you Fold as a reward.

Brew of Veils: Beware. I'm not sure who it's supposed to make you invisible to (maybe bandits? someone said only players?), but I've been attacked while having it active. Might have just been bugged, I don't have any information on its current status.

Places (map sections) where you can explore to your heart's content without getting attacked:
- Bat Saha (the Careful trait flags an NPC around the teahouse)
- Myr (although the Careful trait flags a Warden south of the town)
- Myrt
- Kuro Orchard, at least until further notice
- Western Harvest Route
- Mist Keeper's Toe
- Lakatos String
- Western Verve Junction
- Crossings
- Char Cape Passage (as long as you don't leave the map for a certain other place)
- Obo's Blade Pass
- Siram Fields
- Traveller's Meadow is safe, but note that none of the adjacent areas are

...So that makes for a continuous stretch of the map - between Bat Saha/Myr and Siram Fields - that's completely safe (for now), even if a certain NPC in Myr might make you think otherwise. Since the content update in February, you can also safely get from Western Harvest Route via the new area Mist Keeper's Toe to Lakatos String.

In this area NPCs have hinted at dangers which may be added in future updates:
Kuro Orchard: Pottery Grove in the east (at a good distance from the main road) is said to be unsafe at night, but for now there doesn't seem to spawn anything dangerous.


These are places where I've definitely spotted hostile NPCs/spirits and in many cases been attacked, especially (but not exclusively) at night and/or off the beaten path:
- Charwood Forest
- Jade Urn
- The Burnings
- Little Slip
- Harrow Ledge
- West Wind Shores
- Brim of Abarat
- Crescent Link
- Alken Rock Coast

Now of course, these "dangerous" places are also some of the most interesting and worthwhile places to visit, so you might want to venture there sooner or later (maybe after getting access to at least one useful sneaky skill). Check out the next two sections if you're wondering about a specific place.

You've found an interesting-looking place, event etc. in one of the "dangerous" areas and you're wondering if you can get anywhere without combat there? Maybe you've used a "sneaky skill" to get there and are wondering if you can drop it? I'll try to give you some info while spoiling as little as possible.
As a general rule, if you press TAB or hover over an NPC and their name tag doesn't have a reddish background, they won't attack you unprovoked, and if it does then you should stay far out of their way. There are a few exceptions or unclear situations though (or you may not be able to see red very well), so I'll still include some info here.

...a house with an NPC deep down in Charwood Forest
Once you're there, you should be safe (it's just a pet kettem..). You'll probably notice that you won't get very far with that NPC, but that's a different matter that you'll find info on elsewhere (like the discussion forum). Personally I suspect that this is mostly something meant for later in the game.

...the house with NPCs in The Burnings
All of the NPCs in and around the house are harmless, and I've never seen or heard of aggressive ones coming very close.

...a hidden entrance in The Burnings
The Underbelly should be completely safe as far as I know!

...the sketchy tavern in Little Slip
All of the NPCs in the tavern should be safe to interact with, including the spooky one.

...the ship-wrecked ghosts in Alken Rock Coast
They are safe to talk to, and you can examine their ship as well.

...a pond with a cave in The Jade Urn
If you don't see anyone in there, it should be safe to wade in and explore as far as I know. If you see a group of NPCs and animals, it's safe and you can interact with all of them. If you see an NPC called Deeplander Mystic, it's very much Not Safe. Apparently there's at least one other possible encounter there, but it's very rare and I'm trying to avoid spoilers on it.

...a hidden part of the map accessible from The Jade Urn
That whole place is completely safe as far as I know! Only seen and heard of peaceful NPCs spawning there sometimes.

...a hidden part of the map accessible from Alken Rock Coast
It's the same place as the one described just above this one, check there ;)

...a semi-hidden place north in Harrow Ledge
So far I've seen two possible events there, and both of them are safe (including the one with bandits). Often it's just deserted, but worth checking out. I've been attacked several times just outside the place at night, though.

...West Wind Shores...
In the northeastern part, there can be kettems (though in periods of higher activity in the game, they are being hunted by server-hopping players a lot). They are very slow to react, so you should be able to pass through if you're reasonably quick, even pick up stuff from the ground, and reach the northwestern part with peaceful NPCs. Further south, there can be all kinds of hostile NPCs, especially at night.

...a place in Crescent Link
If you find hostile NPCs there, you can just come back some other time. Sometimes there's just a bunch of teenagers that you can interact with. Sometimes it's deserted.

...an exit that wasn't on the map in (otherwise safe) Char Cape Passage
If you get there through the door in the mountain, the first area is usually safe during day time (including the occasional "wolf"). There can be ghosts and bandits there (maybe only at night), but you should be able to see them early enough to do a 180 and come back another time.
The lower area down the long flight of stairs is a bit of a gamble, but it's also less interesting anyway. The group of adventurers that's there sometimes are ok to talk to, but don't pick up the valuable item in the bag that's lying on the ground between them.

If you found the entrance with the ladder under the rock - that one leads to the part that's a gamble. Use a sneaky skill to get past it, or look for the other entrance which is hinted at by several NPCs.

This section deals with legendary places, secrets, and treasures mentioned by NPCs in-game and/or other players, and generally stuff you may think you'll miss out on without engaging in combat. I won't use spoiler tags for places that are named by common NPCs in safe areas, and the info in spoiler tags is a bit more spoilerish than in the section above. So if you want to discover as much as possible yourself (which is highly recommended) and haven't explored a lot yet, you may want to scroll past all of this.

Some of the places described here are also mentioned in the section above and I've copied some info, but I think it makes sense that they can be looked up in both sections.

NEW: The Underbelly (February content update)
As far as I know, this vast mysterious place is completely safe!

Mountain's Secret
If you get there through the door in the mountain, the first area is usually safe during day time (including the occasional "wolf"). There can be ghosts and bandits there (maybe only at night), but you should be able to see them early enough to do a 180 and come back another time.
The lower area down the long flight of stairs is a bit of a gamble, but it's also less interesting anyway. The group of adventurers that's there sometimes are ok to talk to, but don't pick up the valuable item in the bag that's lying on the ground between them.

If you found the entrance with the ladder under the rock - that one leads to the part that's a gamble. Use a sneaky skill to get past it, or look for the other entrance which is hinted at by several NPCs

Kettem cruxes
Several NPCs inform you of their wish to get these, and killing kettems for them and for other loot has become a huge thing for many players - to the point where they can be hard to find in periods of high activity in the game because it takes quite a while before they respawn.
The thing is, you don't have to fight kettems to get their stuff. Now I haven't been able to confirm if this is still true after the last few updates, but you used to be able to find both kettem cruxes and other loot lying around for quite a while after other players had killed them. They can be hard to find, so zooming in (with the little + in your UI) helps.
There's loads of valuable items scattered across that area anyway, and kettems are slow to react. I can usually pick up stuff around them and walk past them before they realise I was there.
There are aggressive NPCs that can appear in the same map section as them, but they tend to be further south. The northwestern part of that map should be safe and is also well worth exploring.
The area where kettems can appear is West Wind Shores.

The Night Market
It's morally dubious (so my main character has never been there), but if you find a way to get there (being careful and/or using "sneaky skills") then you can safely trade.

The Jade Urn Pavilion aka secret temple
Awesome place without any combat or dangers (unless there's something very rare, but doesn't seem like it).

Smuggler/pirate hideouts
Spoilered because I didn't learn in-game that there are two of them. Hostile NPCs are only present in Crescent Link some of the time (IIRC I managed to sneak in and take Interesting Quest Item), sometimes you can meet harmless teenagers. The bandits in the Harrow Ledge hideout can be talked to.

What else should I mention?

Welp... Apparently, there are two curses that you can get without fighting, but to get rid of them you (currently) do have to fight. One of them gives you a really bad debuff, the other one is more vague. Both of them can easily be avoided IF you know what to watch out for:

The really bad curse
What it does: -1 on all your endeavor stats (spirituality, physicality, sociality, mechanics) and +10 burden (which mainly affects combat, it's unclear if it has any effect on walking speed or non-combat knot spells)
How to avoid it (hint): If someone offers you an incredibly good deal on a powerful item with a sketchy story - it may be too good to be true...
...more specific info: It's a ring called "The Eye of the Taker" and it's the only item that merchant offers. You get the curse if you buy it. I met the merchant at the weekend market just east of Crossings, but they may move around.

The mystery curse
What it does: Apparently it makes you easily exhausted so that you lose more energy.
How to avoid it (vague): leave the cave ghost alone
...more specific: There's a ghost captain in a cave at West Wind Shores that you can only see with a skill or tea that lets you see ghosts. You get the curse by talking to them.

This game lets you create a character build and collect skills for an (even) more relaxing experience and you can at least kind of avoid combat, but I hope it's going to get easier as the game develops.

Your feedback matters a lot in this Early Access period - you can send it through the game's own feedback tool in the menu, or post suggestions here. I've been in contact with one of the devs and have already suggested features like an optional combat-free mode where you wouldn't get bothered, but more voices/"votes" would probably help.

This guide would only be half as informative at this point without info and help from BoT's Discord community. If you'd like to join, there's an invite link with further info on how to get in here. Be advised that you may come across spoilers in any of the channels there, though heavy ones are usually politely moderated rather quickly.

Lastly, I'd love to hear if you've found this little guide helpful, and if you have any questions or anything to add!

So this game has been heading towards more focus on survival and dangers for a while, and has now introduced a tedious new inventory system that in my and many others' opinion takes the joy out of exploration. I'm giving up hope that this will actually be a "serene" game by my own standards, not just compared to regular MMO's.
I probably won't update this guide any more, and I'd recommend people looking for a relaxing experience to look elsewhere.