The Lack of Magic

Avarniom is well known to be the less magically capable continent on Deloth, this is often mused to be the reason behind their modern reliance on heavy industry and scientific explorations over all else.
In the early stages of Avarniom magic was a rare thing. Many of the Followers of Odius are aware it is because of the lack of shards of their god on Avarniom lands. The magical essences of the continent are very weak, leading to almost a complete lack of background magical phenomena often experienced on other lands. This rarity limited the number of those that went on to study these energies and develop magical powers from their knowledge.
It was not long before these rare mages were hunted by the authority powers of the early kingdoms and political bodies of Avarniom. In many circles their abilities were seen as strange and unnatural, thus those capable were either shunned, exiled and in many places over Avarnian history, put to death. Over centuries a cultural stigma began to form. Those capable of magic or with the dangerous interest were often snuck away to faraway lands or else kept their secrets or face judgement.
In modern day Avarniom the knowledge of magic is even more of a rarity. This has set the continent back in many places, magical healing abilities in other places of the world are beyond their reach. But as the chief industrialists of Deloth, the Avarnian's have made many discoveries in the realms of nonmagical medicines. They are also disadvantaged by the lack of craftsmen that in other places make enchanted items or weapons and armour from exotic materials. Instead they have mustered their workforce and scientists to form deadly weapons that rely on pure physics rather than ethereal powers.
However, Avarniom finally ran into significant trouble during their Olancian Invasion. It was early on they noted the Asnian and Temetian battle lines would always incorporate mages that had the sole task of maintaining magical warding devices. It was evident massed magical combat had been a big part of previous warfare and the ward-stones were a necessary part of any army. The Avarnian's paid little mind until enough reports of bullets turning in mid air to miss direct hits made the usefulness of magic undeniable. This lesson was further taught as the Asnian army noticed their lack of protection against magic and mustered as many mages as possible at the Battle of Graceville Estate. A perfect firestorm was conjured that broke the back of the Avarnian army and brought the Olancian Campaign to failure.
Modern Avarniom has instituted a policy to train as many mages as possible to form their own magical barriers in future plans involving the backwards technologically decrepit Olancians.