Horus was dead for a while, but recently revived. It's going pretty strong now.
At your level I would stay away from open field battles - try to only join fort fights so you can hide inside the fort.
The experience curve has been lowered since the time you played, it is now possible to reach level 40 in a week if you have some help from clan (i.e a high level Hunter or Conj to help you grind with pet, or a large grind group to support with auras).
Shouldn't be any problem in Syrtis...