I coudn't. I've tried before. You have to pour your life into making ANYTHING in that game. Though, now that I know how to code, I could probably make an auto-miner for me.
But still, it's a pain in the ass to make ANYTHING, the traders are ALWAYS out of money, and people usually suck.
I tend to just join for a bit, steal tons of shit, hoard it all, give it away, and leave. While doing a bit of mining in between.
So, settlement in Wurm = not likely to happen.