AP's are very cool, but as a new player, you will have a lot of problems with your sleek wands. I'm playing CF for more than 15 years and I never did an AP yet because:

1. I didn't know too many wands locations;
2. I know that I will rage delete after losing my unholy weapon

I've solved #1 by making 3-4 hero shifters, finding their wands and deleting them quickly afterwards. It took about 2 months, but I made a list with about 70 wands locations, using only IC talks, travels and etc. Yes, I know that's not very much, but once you get general understanding of how it works, you will find your sleeks easily.

Imo, for the new character AP isn't a good choice. But you are skilled player from other MUD and probably you will have no problems with playing AP.

So, good luck! And yes, as someone mentioned below - Empire is a good choice. Didn't know they change ethos without penalty (spell loss + vuln to wrath).

Live and learn!