I'd say it is even possible that whatever units were assigned to the Pavis garrison included a small engineering squad. Sure, it is wasted in Pavis, but its part of this {unit name}, and the paperwork to split it off is impossible, not to mention they support the Vexilla, we can't easily split them off.
Besides which, even in Pavis I'd think these sorts would only be mostly useless. You do facilities to maintain, and who else is going to make sure that things are in good shape? The locals one generation removed from lice-scratching bison riders? The scum that even the Orlanthi kicked out? No thank you, I'll requisition a highly skilled engineering crew to make sure the the gates are kept oiled and the roof is in good repair, not to mention to make sure all that wonderful siege gear that was hauled out here in the conquest and was never taken home is kept in good working order (why? why? Do you know how much that stuff costs? Well, no, I can't imagine we'll ever use it again, and it would cost more to haul back to Tarsh, but if we write it off _I_ will have to justify it. Easier just to maintain it (which is why they still had working dwarf rocket powered assault ladders when the cradle showed up)). Not to mention, the leader is probably well enough educated to play (umm, whatever the lunar game is that seems to be the cultural equivalent of chess) with good ol' Sore Heels, no way the governor is letting him leave until they both go....
In short, there are all sorts of perfectly stupid but likely reasons why an engineering unit would be in Pavis. No doubt they are bored out of their skulls six days out of seven (on the seventh their too drunk to be bored). On top of it they view themselves as specialists, a cut above the common soldiers, which pisses off the rankers. and one or two of them are probably actually curious about engineering type things, which means they are forever wanting to go poking around the old city, and then others keep bringing up schemes to turn Pavis into a proper city (schemes which of course they can never get funding for, but which may periodically terrify natives who hear that their buildings will be torn down for the new plaza), and the remainder are probably experts at downing gallons of beer (and they are the ones that probably really matter if things ever do get hot!)
As to who they'd worship, I'm sure the solar pantheon has some highly skilled craft gods (who didn't insist on innovating like Gustbran did), but I suspect that big engineering is actually more Carmanian or Lunar. You can either create an obscure cult, tack a sub-cult onto an existing god, or create a modern hero cult. With the first two options the magic probably isn't perfectly tailored to engineering work, because that probably wasn't the gods main focus (i.e. it was war god who got involved in sieges, it was a stonemason god who saved his people by building the first castle, etc), while in the third option the magic will be minor and weak, but is probably very applicable.
Good luck and have fun!
--Bryan
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