So, can you have your own fellowship and join another fellowship?
You should choose a fellowship that can help you advance. The best way to pick a fellowship is to first look at all the fellowships available. If you click on your score in game (the ranking number on the upper left hand side), then click on "fellowships." Have a paper and pen handy; you'll want to write down a few names. Click on some of the fellowships. Pick those that have many large players but a few new players such as yourself. That way, you'll have high level players to help you but they won't disappoint you ... some high level fellowships won't take new players.
Check out the "overviews" of a few of the potential fellowships. See if you like what they say. Pick at least five fellowships that you might enjoy. Then with your list, go to elvenstats.com. Click on "fellowships" and check each one of them out. Make sure you're picking the ones in the same world as you are ... some fellowships have the same name in different worlds.
Once you're looking at the fellowships in elvenstats, here's what you look for:
1. Check what they need as far as goods go. You'll see a bar graph that shows what they have a lot of and what they are low in. If your boosted goods is planks and they have tons of planks, then it's not a good fit for you. If you find a fellowship that's a little low in at least one of your boosts, that's great! You may have a good fit.
2. Check out how high they get in the tournament. You want a fellowship that at least has a hope of getting to 10 chests in order to get blueprints. You'll need blueprints in the game. If they only get 4 chests per week, you'll have a long wait to obtain blueprints.
3. Check out the members. See how many black triangles are next to players' names. Black triangles signal inactivity. There may be one or two and that's fine, but if there are many, then it won't be very active and you won't get as much help as you need.
4. Scroll all the way down to the bottom. See how many members have left recently. If they've had an exodus of members, that may mean that there's been some kind of shakeup in leadership. You really would benefit from a stable fellowship where no more than a couple of people have left recently.
Narrow down your choice and then pick one based on the above info. Don't just apply; write to the archmage or a mage and tell them a little about yourself. Quite often, a message will do the trick and get you accepted where, given your new status, you might not be. If they see you're communicative, they'll want you in the group.
Good luck!