[Baalz]

Level 2 F, E & S lets you self buff to level 3, level 3 lets you cast all the main line battle spells - falling fire, blade wind, soul slay, etc. Level 2 Air lets you spread some air gems around and lay down thunder strike - a tad expensive, but certainly worthwhile in the right situation. N2 gives you everything from haste to panic to charm (with a booster). I find their battlemages very worthwhile and quite flexible.

For multipathed forge mages, yes this can be a bit of a uphill struggle, though you're site searching the crap out of everything and it's early age so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding tons of indie mages throughout your abnormally large empire. Also, empowering is a real option with your solid income of every type other than water.