Being a Cythera junky I thought I'd contribute to some knowledge here:

Elip: Walk out east and kill fruit flies. North of there is a small forest also with animals. South of Elip are cows, birds, dolphins, fish that you can take at level 5ish too. West of elip is a large plains, then the Mono forest for level 10+

Shayol Ghul: You have to go to the gate and "say out" and the gatekeeper will walk 1 east and open the gate for you to leave. N, D, N , W, N, N, U, W, N, N, W, U, then East will take you into the newbie grounds. Its a small cave that leads south-eastish, where it then downs DOWN into snails, roots, slimes. That whole run will bring you to level 8 or so. After that, explore the caves till you find the mines with rats and lizards. Always bring a good supply of food and water. If you find the end of the mines you've stumbled upon Khazad, the little dwarf NPC area. If you go west out of the mountain and then south into a valley there are foxes. West of that is the Blood Woods -- Also great exp. This area can be reached through Troll Temple too.

Cythera: From Gargoyle, go N N E E S into Halls of Lament. Rats there give huge exp. South of Cythera also are bees, sheep, etc. West of there even is the Hoan Dor Forest for level 10+. If you make it far enough west you can open a bush and find the path to Elip. Otherwise stay around Cythera, you can repeat halls of lament and the smaller animals that roam the outskirts of Hoan Dor. Wolves/wargs are level 10-12ish and are doable if you can hit hard. Typically your best bet is migrating to Elip and doing Mono Forest.

I second the "halls of lament" for good starting experience. After you clear the rats you can migrate into the Lonely forest to explore.

Lonely forest is just south of the South Gate of cythera and west (but not too far south that you head west into haon dor). It's a fairly safe area for lowbies and the right mobs are good experience.

Additionally, I suggest you collect the gold in the cave (from gargoyle 6s 9w 5n, op vine, ese, op rubble, d - beware the wolf beast

Use this gold to purchase an invis wand from hans eese of Gargoyle so you can make it to elip & mono forest safely when you aren't high enough to kill wolves/wargs.

Cythera(gargoyle) to Elip(arched bridge)
s 6*;w 13*;s;w 2*;s 2*;ws;w 3*;n;w;op bush;w;n 3*;w 3*;s 3*;w 3*;s 3*;w 6*

Elip is a great place to be for starting out (however it can be a tough place to start if you need certain teachers outside of Elip - since you can't buy an invis wand in Elip). The cows in the south plains of elip are great follow-up to Halls of Lament, next I suggest you follow the main road west into mono forest. The deeper (north) you go into mono forest the more difficult the monos become, also ascending UP into the trees are the more difficult monos. After a you become comfortable with monos you can venture south of the main road onto the ocean for giant octopus' for xp. The more west on the ocean the more difficult it becomes and the more experience you will find.

Additional Elip notes:
1. There is route from Elip to Cythera bypassing haon dor for adventurers small enough to fit through the tree for safe passage. Just east of Elip, north off of the Old Forest road is the green forest. Locate the tree in the Green Forest and go up, east,... then head east'ish towards Cythera. [if you get stuck in the green forest "nws or nwws" repeatedly typically gets you out of the maze in the forest].
2. Take the board(boat) off the beaver [w,2n,e OR w,3n,e] of arched bridge in elip


The monos and ocean should sustain you to about levels 50-60, after this you can head to Sundhaven to start out on the animals (smoke rats, cats, birds, moths), then ease into the SH shopkeepers.