MP Guide to LA Ermor - The Ashen Empire

[Viajero]

Currently on turn 16ish of a MP game, and playing as LA Ermor. Enjoying quite a bit as expansion has proven to be explosive with over 30 provinces conquered while the next contender has about 18.
Research is going at good rythm and troop numbers are stratospheric. I even got Etimmu as hero which is lovely.

My current concern is magic path access and magic object forging. As Dusk elders are limited to D3 +1 elemental level, my magic options are quite limited. On top of this random magic sites seem to be sparse in the map, forget about indie mages. So currently it is only my rainbow pretender who can build anythng meaningful. Got to construction 4 and would like to build a few shields/brands for my banes but cant unless I use my pretender, who is busy site searching.

Any advice magic and item construction wise?