Elevator

Elevatorsbranded "Elevaders" in the KAF Complex (FTK2) are the primary form of transport between levels in both FTK games. They are inexplicable, industrial constructs embedded into the scenery, which serve as ways in and ways out on the quest to grab all the Koishis.
== Overview ==
Elevators appear uniformly as structures that starkly contrast pre-existing environments with their strange, industrial appearance. 
They have a monotone and blocky design, consisting of what can be described as a 'narrow vertical H' shape that terminates with opened elevator doors. There is a glowing pathway that leads down or up a small flight of stairs, and all elevators are connected by what appears to be an elevator shaft that extends upwardsA fair example being the elevator (non-shortcut) to Gensokyo in FTK2 or downwardsAn example being most of the elevators in FTK1 forever. Despite the status of the elevators as, well, elevators, the 'shaft' seems too small to carry anything more than a single person.
Players get around the levels of FTK1 and FTK2 by falling through elevators, usually with a loud slam at the end.
=== Lore ===
While the now-decanonized koisherminal.carrd.co website provides a general overview of the elevators themselves, it also mentions an aspect associated with the elevators, specifically the phenomena of 'shattering'. Essentially, the elevators in FTK are not of Gensokyoan origin and are actively defiling the boundaries that form the realm, being the side effects of leftover residue from a retreated expedition. It is implied that levels such as Cinnamon Acre came to be by elevators perforating boundaries and causing issues.
The Koisherminal website also claims that a material derived from a 'steel-like polymer' and ventilation systems capable of rerouting air in certain directions are the reasons for why Gensokyo's residents are unable to leave through them to the Outside World. The elevators also reported to a 'Primary Center' that was presumably a sort of hub.
FTK2 hints that Yukari Yakumo or another individual is partly responsible for the elevators' presence, or at least their continued activation; given that Yukari remarks briefly about the history of the elevators in her Void Palace terminals, and that the KAF has branded them as Elevaders. The Complex also implies that the elevators are sentient to an unknown extent, and capable of feeling 'strain and suffering'.
== Trivia ==
* According to a Koisherminal in FTK1, the player falls almost 6,500 feet into Koishokyo upon leaving the Seminar Caves. Normally, this fall would be enough to kill the player (the fall would end with the player destroyed by over 162,000 G-forces) and eventually compress them into a pancake of flesh, muscle, and bone. Presumably, the only reason why they survive because they're just built different.
** For reference, the wreck of the Titanic sits roughly 12,500 feet below sea level. One fall is enough to cover half the distance.
** Given the Koisherminals are capable of lying, it is unclear if their 6,500 feet estimate is true; plus, elevator shafts visibly disappear upon hitting the skyboxes, suggesting that the elevators are either not that tall, or the player is unable to see the full extent.
* The miniature elevator in the KAF Complex's museum has a vertical shaft that impales through the protective glass and stretches into the roof.
* Player transportation being reliant on elevators that are entirely vertical gives the image that Gensokyo, too, is also entirely vertical, therefore implying imagery like Ancient Koigypt and New Heresy being directly below Gensokyo.
* The name "Elevader" is a portmanteau of "elevator" and "invader".
* Despite most elevators typically blending in with the environment (save for the ominously tall elevator shaft that sticks out), Cinnamon Acre's elevator is wrapped in a giant tower of flesh; something never elaborated on.
** FTK2 depicts the elevators as occasionally damaging the scenery, with the elevator exit in Gensokyo seemingly piercing through it's sky and creating large holes and the New Heresy elevators sticking through buildings.
* FTK2's only known elevator that the player accesses without need for falling down a vertical shaft is in Ancient Koigypt's second half (aka the Necropolitan), where the player quite literally steps into the pyramid by a visible teleporter.
* The elevator models feature a vent that is often blocked off by the scenery around it, preventing the now-hypothetical flow of air through it.
* The idea of a player character getting around by simply falling down elevator shafts is stolen from ULTRAKILL, something more evident with levels like Something Malicious (which recreates the elevator used in the game, albeit with it's standard red color palette).
* The elevators do not abide to Euclidean physics and geometry, with the biggest offender being the New Heresy elevator that takes you across the bridge; you fall into the vertical shaft, and somehow find yourself horizontally shifted across the map; visibly in sight of your origin.
* Prior to V.A8c, the New Heresy entrance elevator in Gensokyo sticked out both ways; one route was down, one route was up into the sky. This was mediated after the update.
== References ==
Category:Meta
Category:Find the Koishis 1
Category:Find the Koishis 2
Category:Lore