To clarify, techmaturgy is the same as hextech, so it's utilised by both Piltover and Zaun extensively, just their approached to it are mostly different.
What I'd assume is that magic in general, since is comes from Bard's home, just works differently depending on how you access it. The Shurimans were able to grasp unimaginable power through the Sun Disc and this likely involved far more than giving individuals ascension. It was probably the focal point for their sorcery and any kind of magic they had.
Gems and crystals exist probably as one of the earliest means of drawing forth magic, probably due to the way crystals are made in general or how they can capture light and refract it, which could lend to how they work with magic. Gems have seen a wide variety of uses such as enhancing the capabilities of armour and weapons (
) to conjuring tangible objects (
) to empowering living organisms
.
Notice that very few people in Runeterra just have magical powers. They got them from somewhere or by some means. Humans and Yordles aren't inherently magical creatures; they need mediums to actually obtain that power, with a few notable exceptions such as Janna who has that power naturally. Everyone else is either magically empowered in some way like the Ascended, the Iceborn, Ryze and Leona, or they have some kind of magical tool like everyone with a True Ice weapon or hextech equipment. Even some of the people you'd associate with being natural born mages have wands, staves or something similar to channel that power through.
Even looking at the non-human races we see that magic is still difficult to come by; Trundle's powers come from his club Boneshiver, (although he seems to use its power way better than anyone else with a true ice weapon), Volibear was empowered by a magical storm, Nami's power likely comes from her equipment, particularly her staff, and Skarner is magically empowered through crystals.
Given the fact that living organisms just seem to far away from magical naturally, I'd have to say that magic isn't all that easy to come by in Runeterra. It fills the air and infuses the land but actually using it? That's way beyond the capacity of the world's current inhabitants without some serious aid. In fact there are very few champions in League that we know for sure are actually magical by nature and didn't get it from somewhere else.
and maybe the Void champions (if void power is actually magic) are the only ones that spring to mind, everyone else either has a caviet attached or we don't know enough about.