Yes, they should work together fine. True strike specifies that you attack with a weapon, and the masteries specify when you hit with a weapon attack (or make a weapon attack for some)
There are actually a lot of examples of play in those first chapters that illustrate skills pretty well. A little fun fact: all the examples are taken from Curse of Strahd!
Having read the new PHB, I am inclined to agree. I get the sense that the starting chapter about rules is just enough to orient a beginning player, but there is a ton of "The DM will know what to do..." baked in. There are even a few parts where it says "See the DMG for more info about X..."
Actually, there are a few of them named in the Species section: Corellon, Lolth, Gruumsh, Bahamut, Tiamat, Moradin, Reorx, Garl Glittergold, Baervan Wildwanderer, Baravar Cloakshadow, Yondalla, Brandobaris, and Charmalaine!
I found another Dark Sun mention, in the Halfling entry of all places, referring to the "territorial mob of Halflings like those in the Dark Sun setting"
Yeah, they split "Create your character" into 5 steps, and label each part of the character sheet according to the step it corresponds to (1. Class, 2. Origin, 3. Ability Scores, 4. Alignment, and 5. Details).