[Iry]

As a very new player, myself, I recommend you play EA Pangea with the Maenad Strategy.

This race has the advantage of giving you lots of Chaff that your friends can chop through to make themselves feel powerful. It also gives you a meta-strategy to dabble with and work on perfecting. It also has some access to Blood Magic so you can dabble in it without intentionally becoming a blood mega-power. Did I mention it lets your friend chop through legions of Maenad chaff and this makes them feel powerful? Yeah, that part is worth mentioning twice.