Hello! I posted this on the subreddit, but thought I would cross-post here.

I've been away for a while, and I can't really remember how this works. A refresher would be well appreciated.

Conjury/White Magic and Thaumaturgy/Black Magic both channel aether from the caster's surroundings to spells. Correct? They are very different disciplines, but both pull aether from the same source: the world around them. This ultimately means that the spells aren't harmful to the caster, but they are, in a great enough quantity, damaging to the world. Is that right?

Red Magic instead uses the caster's personal aether to fuel spells, after the originators saw the destruction caused by rampant White and Black usage during the War of the Magi. This is the inverse of the two traditional schools, leaving no greater mark upon the world, but would theoretically cause progressive damage to the caster, right? I can't imagine an old Red Mage could be the picture of health.

Besides these classes, virtually every other Job in FFXIV channels aether into some sort of effect: be it outright spells or simply using it to augment physical capabilities. Do these other jobs use external or internal aether? Is it ever touched upon?