Why we pay for aetherythes

[Berethos]

It costs money to maintain the aetherytes. Even if it wasn't built as a post-Calamity transit system, you have to pay the local owners to keep the aetheryte in working condition.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, we've been told the payment isn't current maintenance but rather paying off the cost of the original work order (much like my wife and I in real life are currently paying off the financed cost of replacing the windows in our home), at least in areas settled in and frequented by the five races.

Maintenance costs for those in other areas not repaired by that particular work order almost makes sense...except most of those groups don't need seem to need gil. Dragons and Moogles certainly wouldn't, nor would I think the Vanu, and all of those appear to be older or naturally occurring aetherytes. Idyllshire is really the only one where the associated gil cost for maintenance still makes sense, in my opinion.

I mean, I get that the cost associated is for gameplay reasons ultimately...just that there are several places where it doesn't fit in the lore versus the other areas where it does fit the lore.

[Cilia]

Maintenance costs for those in... areas not repaired by that particular work order almost makes sense...except most of those groups don't need seem to need gil. Dragons and Moogles certainly wouldn't, nor would I think the Vanu, and all of those appear to be older or naturally occurring aetherytes. Idyllshire is really the only one where the associated gil cost for maintenance still makes sense, in my opinion.

And yet they still take payment in the form of gil for repairs and merchandise, as well as hand it out as a reward for completing (re)quests. Apparently they must have some need of it, or they would not do so. (Do you really wanna keep kupo nuts on hand to use the Churning Mists aetherytes?)

The only one that makes no logical sense is the one on Azys Lla, since while the nodes do accept and give out gil as currency said currency did not exist back then (they had their coins that my retainer likes to bring back instead of rare dyes). Perhaps they're just skipping the middleman and giving us the gil equivalent, but it still doesn't make sense for much of anything on Azys Lla to carry or accept gil as payment...

[Berethos]

And yet they still take payment in the form of gil for repairs and merchandise, as well as hand it out as a reward for completing (re)quests. Apparently they must have some need of it, or they would not do so. (Do you really wanna keep kupo nuts on hand to use the Churning Mists aetherytes?)

That gets me thinking...repairs (for the aetherytes specifically - I know you're meaning the repairs they do for us that costs gil) from who, I wonder. I got the distinct impression that the particular group in the Churning Mists hadn't been interacting with the anyone but dragons for a long, long time...certainly not to the point of calling a certified Aetheryte repair technician when they need it to be serviced. Which, as a side thought, makes me wonder if there's an example or mention in-game of the Aetherytes having maintenance performed on them or the gil cost of teleportation going to anything in particular. As far as I can remember we all just assumed it was for maintenance and/or paying for the guards who watch over them, and this lore lowdown is the first official word on what the payment goes toward that I've personally heard or seen. If there's evidence to the contrary I'd absolutely love to see it.

I don't think the Moogles actually have a need for it, honestly, at least originally, and within the lore they might very well prefer kupo nuts to gil (and would if the game play decision wasn't made to use gil as a blanket currency, regardless of lore considerations, which is a possibility for minor contradictions like this). Perhaps they simply accept it as a matter of politeness and because it's what us adventurers have, and the only reason they need it now is because of their interactions with us and and the growing interactions with those from Ishgard that you can see in the side quests that pop-up later that lead to talk of the Moogles learning how to repair the stonework in the area.