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In the heavensward storyline, Yshtola mentions that she may have accidentily Thancred's ability to use magic, and in turn he is unable to teleport using aetherytes.
Garleans are by nature unable to use magic.
Internal aethernets could be substituted for magitek transporters, but would they have aetherytes, considering they potentially have many non-garlean folks living there?
A curious question!
We see in places like Ala Mhigo and Doma that - at the very least - Garlemald isn't smashing other nations' aetherytes after they take control out of pure spite. In fact, loyal conscripts, spies, and successfully indoctrinated citizens who are not purebloods could all make use of the technology, so why not take advantage? And blend in?
But would Garleans knowingly raise aetherytes in their own pureblood strongholds ... hm.
(And are the aetherial rivers there even "good enough" to sustain the network?)
There seems to be no shortage of purebloods who've adopted an attitude of, "Our kind were pushed around, and now we're gonna do the pushing!" Perhaps some would look on aetherytes in Garlean cities as less of an obvious utilitarian benefit and more as an insult, pragmatism be damned. "When in Rome, use the Magitek."
Tough call!
Presently unknown.
It would not make sense for aetherytes to be in ancestral Garlean lands, but one must remember that their holdings were rather miniscule just a century ago. It would then fall on the native peoples to their conquered lands to have installed aetherytes, and seeing as the Xaela were capable of getting aetherytes in some of their more permanent settlements, it doesn't seem particularly difficult (though if we're to believe Lolorito it's somewhat costly to install and maintain).
Would the Garleans install aetherytes themselves? Maybe, maybe not. It's very useful for their conscripted soldiers, but presents a grave security risk and they can't use them themselves... they might not destroy functional ones, but I don't see them installing new ones.
I have not considered the security risk that they present, considering that was the reason the Aetheryte at the house of the fierce was dismantled.
Very good point.
From a game-mechanics as well as lore-based thought process.... aetherytes are what the player is used to, and there has to be some form of 'warp points' available in any location we visit. Would it be better to maintain that familiar label, or go with a 'local flavour' version and call them magitek transporters even though they do exactly the same thing?
Actually it might be best to stick with aetherytes because of Return. Given the lore explanation of how the spell works, it probably wouldn't make sense to be able to mark a magitek device as your home point instead of a real aetherial beacon.
[deadpan tone so confident it can only be trolling] Obviously the reborn Republic of Garlemald, having seen the error of their ways as an Empire that has committed so many wrongs in trusting a hereditary military dictatorship, will simply install aetherytes as a gesture of conciliatory goodwill on behalf of the Populares once we are in alliance against all the true evils of this world ... like ... uh ... the resurrection of Zodiark ... and ... the Allagans returning from deep space ... and ... uh ... a Wings of the Goddess-esque invasion from a doomed shard ... and ... other eldritch abominations from the Whorl which defy the very laws of nature and feed on the collapsing aetherial stability of Hydaelyn's cosmos and the madness of Her children.
Assuming, of course, that it's not just a dungeon, again.
Well, if Azyz Lla can have an exotic Aetheryte design that's never used elsewhere, I don't see why Garlemald couldn't have it's own model. Also... I get the feeling Aetherytes would be the kind of thing the Allagans would manufacture...
One of the things about Garlemald that often gets overlooked when discussing it is that there has always been a sizable minority of non-Garlean races who have always been Garlean culturally. As in, with full citizenship, rights, etc. The lore book puts 30% of Garlemald's non-conquered population (not the population of the provinces) at being non-Garlean racially. If there's always been that many non-Garleans living in the Garlean homeland, I could see them having an Aetheryte system in place for them. Especially since Garlemald is so far north that everything we know about it makes it seem like Garlemald has the same climate as Siberia. Getting around in winter in those conditions would be way easier (and safer) to do with Aetherytes.
The other thing to consider is that magitek teleportation has probably only been around as long as magitek itself has. Garleans would still have needed to get around their Republic before that. Given how prized mages are too them, I could see them having Aetherytes specifically for the few mages they do have.
It's worth noting that Pureblood Garleans can make use of some manner of teleportation. The Warring Triad quests show Regula van Hydrus making use of such after the solo duty. Magitek has also been frequently shown to mimic many aspects of magic, including summoning familiars. It doesn't seem a huge stretch to me that Garlemald itself will have its own variant of aetherytes that Pureblood Garleans can make use of. They are, after all, very keen on efficiency. Furthermore, there's strong implications that the inhabitants of Goug were among the ancestors of Pureblood Garleans as they, too, were unable to use magic. Ramza was shown to be able to make use of Goug's transportation features so it isn't a stretch to assume that Garlemald has created its own network...though it is most likely limited to short to medium rather than long distance travel.
We've seen, and even made use of, magitek transporters capable of teleporting people between locations since as far back as Dzemael Darkhold.
From what I remember, there was some sort of warping structure at Cape Westwind that was used to funnel troops and supplies to and from Castrum Occidens. It would stand to reason that the Garlean mainland has found a way to mimic Aetherytes, though I imagine not perfectly (and highly limited to short distance travel between two specific points).