I think folks are talking past one another somewhat. Let's be more specific.
- There is some amount of magic entering the world from the poles, M.
- Some quantity of this magic is absorbed, W. This is the total amount of magic captured by any Waystone on any network.
- Some amount of W is used by the Karaz Ankor to protect themselves from Chaos and power the Works of the Ancestors. Let's call that D. We know with meta knowledge that D used to be much larger than it is now, but not with IC knowledge.
- Some amount of W is used by Kislev to be spun into Ice Magic, according to Baba Niedzwenka, we'll call that K.
- There are hypothesized L (for Laurelorn), N (for Nehekhara), and A (for Athel Loren) values also coming out of W, but we have no hard knowledge about this either IC or OOC.
- The remainder, U=W-D-K-L-N-A, is what travels on to Ulthuan. Some unknown quantity of this is used for magical megaprojects including but not limited to keeping the island floating, and the remainder, V, is dumped into the vortex as waste magic.
When people talk about "payment", what is the final outcome they envision? Do they want U to remain constant but Ulthuan to provide material assistance to the nations of the Old World for maintaining U? Or do they want the right to toss on a little extra skimming for various polities of the Old World, which reduces the value of U? Both? Something else entirely?
Obviously everyone has a continued interest in existing, but if the nations of the Old World start increasing the reach of the Waystone Network of our own volition, thereby increasing the total capture W of the network, I think it is both reasonable and just that they should gain a direct benefit from it instead of simply increasing the quantity U that Ulthuan gets to play with. Now, obviously we
don't know what they use U
for: maybe it almost all goes into a desperate struggle for keeping Ulthuan afloat and only unusable Dhar and other dregs get tossed into the vortex, and maybe they're powering a bunch of theme parks with awesome magical rides and V is enormous because they have more than they can spend. Probably the truth is somewhere in between that. But we don't
know because they won't
tell us, and they won't tell us until we show up at the adult's table and demonstrate that they should take us seriously and treat us, if not as equals, then at least as a counterparty that is negotiated with rather than a subject to whom terms are unilaterally dictated.
The elves of old did a great service to the world, but that doesn't mean that all the labors of the time since, or of the present, are
owed them. What's owed them is "the amount of magic necessary to sustain life on the planet and the sustenance of their home." Whatever they get on top of that is discretionary, and subject to negotiation over the precise distribution thereof.
