PVP Self Defense Tips For Those Who Do Not Want To PVP or:

or: how to prevent going broke when you're not looking

* The simplest trick to keeping from being bled dry of your gold is to stash it in the bank, found under your Keep tab. It costs a percentage fee but it is worth it.

* Set Celesta or one of the other defense-boosting heroes as your general. At level 1 Celesta gives a +3 defense bonus when you're attacked. Dante is another choice, offering +4 defense at level 1. Lacking those, use your strongest hero with the best defense.

* Increase your army size and invest points in raising your personal defense. Your army is made up of facebook friends who play castle age. There is a thread on the official forums to add castle age players to your facebook friends list if you wish. The maximum army size is 501. So far I haven't bothered with this, choosing the next step instead:

* After protecting yourself and your gold as best you can, enjoy the aspects of the game you like, ignoring the pvp. It's just an aspect of the game, and one that rarely affects any other aspect.

Or you can go to the battle tab, and under "training grounds," train with Celesta. Complete her training and you'll earn a few extra points for your stats, and who knows, you may even get to like battling and take your revenge. Dueling can be great fun even for those who want to stay with a small army.
Making Gold In Castle Age
The primary sources of income in Castle Age are:

Quest rewards - As you progress, questing gets more and more lucrative.

PvP - specifically, abusing starry-eyed newbies who haven't learned to put their gold in their bank yet. Harsh, but true. As a horrified and unsuspecting Acolyte I found myself dropping $100,000 a duel. Nothing beats that level of income in the early levels of the game.

Land - Land offers hourly income, and can be obtained as boss drops or by purchase in Town. Note that the prices of all types of land go up the more you have, so the common recommendation is to buy in stacks of 5 and 10 as soon as you can. (All land in the stack having the same price, saving gold over buying them piece by piece.)

Use whatever methods above you like or are able, and BANK your gold, and you'll have a nice, steadily growing bankroll.
Of Generals and Heroes

There are several ways to obtain generals. One is by purchase under the Heroes tab. These slowly unlock as you work your way through the quest chains, and only cost in-game gold. Some are summoned through alchemy. Other heroes are available as quest rewards (like Celesta) or achievement rewards (Darius, for instance, is a reward when one of your apprentices reaches level 50).

More desirable and unusual heroes are offered in return for spending favor points. Some are only available by random chance in the various chests you can buy, but others can be purchased from the Oracle. We're only shown one Oracle hero at a time for sale, but all Oracle-sold heroes are available if you have their link: Buy Links for all Oracle Heroes at the official Castle Age forums.

Wikia article showing all heroes and how to get them.
Wikidot heroes list with comparative stats.

Generals gain experience from questing and battling as your primary general, and can achieve four levels, increasing their powers with each.

Some notable General powers, not to miss:
Aeris decreases, and ultimately eliminates, banking fees.
Celesta offers defense boosts.
Garlan decreases soldier costs.
Vanquish has a vicious attack.
Zarevok offers bonus damage against monsters.
All of these are obtainable using in-game gold or from quests.