Um, yeah. Scorpion Men rock hard. They're late-game only, and quite a bit expensive, but they're very nice.
Burning Ones are great units, but cap-only and very resource-heavy. And the strategic move of 1 will limit your options until you can get the Gateway thing going. Therefore, I wouldn't really play EA Abysia as a bless nation. Not that you said you were going to do so, but anyway....
Here's a fun thing to do with Fire magic: Race up the Evocation tree to Fires from Afar. Start toasting enemy armies before they can engage with you. Continue researching to Flames from the Sky. Now your toaster is extra-toasty.
Fire construction items aren't great, true, but they aren't useless. A Warlord with two Fire Bolas (one in each hand!) can be fun. Demonbred assassins with Rods of the Phoenix are a hoot. And ... um ... I'll think of something else really soon.
And did I mention Scorpion Men?