Re: Empowerment
 

Quite a few nations also have decent access to summons with either stronger or different magic than the national mages -- some national summons are like this, and there are some non-restricted summons that can offer other paths.

Ex. -- Spectres take only Death, but give you 1D + 2 restricted randoms, if memory serves (WESD ?).

Lamia Queens are Nature/Death, but can also offer astral.

The absolute wackiest cases are Tartarians, of course; requires death and nature (de facto), but many will have 3/2 unrestricted random, 2/2/1 unrestricted random, or even 3/2/2 unrestricted random. Takes D7, but with a D2 mage, lots of research, and many death gems, you can build Skull Staff, Mound Fiend, Skull Helmet, Demilich, the unique +3D weapon... and end up with a demilich boosted to D8 without involving any other path.

Re: Empowerment
 

IIRC they can also offer minor access to Blood, as can Treelords.

-Max