How do the pawns get uploaded? My internet has been a bit funky in recent days so I'm not sure if I was actually online when I created my pawn. Does it get uploaded later for others to use?

You need to rest at any inn( with active internet connection) to UPDATE your main pawn. Rest at inn regularly to get rewards when someone hires and releases your main pawn.
Basically when you rest at inn you upload information about your main pawn to server and you need to do it regularly.