#a few of these hcs are lowkey inspired by worldbuilding in one of our original stories but they just fit SO WELL for our fanfic too

[m1lkyw4yw1sh3z]

Rotating that elevator in our brain <3 We have SO many worldbuilding thoughts sldkfjsf Anyway here's a collection of various general hcs that apply both to our AU and our interpretation of Regretevator in general :)

First off imo it seems like most of the different floors are entirely separate dimensions?? The various NPCs are all so drastically different from each other, not to mention some floors are references to/locations from other games entirely. It'd just make the most sense to us if the elevator was an interdimensional entity.

On the surface it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to who gets access to the elevator, or what worlds it travels to, but in our interpretation it tends to go after people who fall under two categories: 1. they have some abnormal/otherworldly quality that makes them stand out compared to the rest of their own dimension, and 2. they're holding onto some regrets (ha because regretevator)

Once someone fits those criteria, they receive an anonymous invitation in the mail containing the number corresponding to their floor, and the elevator starts appearing somewhere near them. Perhaps a new door appears in their house, or the entire elevator itself just materializes in a remote area, it's a coin toss.

Some people never decide to investigate, which is why many floors have no elevator NPCs associated with them. However, curiosity often gets the best of them anyway...

More below this post is getting long sldkfj

Some floors are just different locations in the same world, and as time passes this becomes more common of an occurrence due to the elevator causing otherworldly vibes :tm: to spread. For example: Two Stud Camp, 3008, and Infected Apartment were originally just normal locations all on Earth.

Unfortunately the elevator's dimension-warping energy/technology is very unstable (hence its frequent malfunctions, inability to properly assess whether it is at capacity or not, the tendency for NPCs like Mozelle or Jaoba to enter in-between floors etc.) so it tends to contaminate worlds it accesses very easily.

Due to this, some floors also exist as "pocket dimensions" hidden within other worlds, like the Gumball Machine in the Hotel Floor. A lot of the liminal space floors in this AU are examples of these pocket dimensions! You take a wrong turn, open the wrong door, and end up wandering in a slightly Off version of the building you were originally in....

Also, time doesn't pass normally within the elevator, meaning it can still serve as instantaneous travel from place to place despite the fact that all of the buttons are broken and rarely take you directly where you want to go. The time distortion sometimes bugs out, which can cause travelers to see strange things, like echoes of their own previous trips to the elevator....

In this AU, the INTERNET ITSELF is also an otherworldly creation like the elevator, able to span across dimensions if you know where to look. Several characters from different worlds met each other online before they ever gained access to the elevator to be able to meet in person. Ex: our headcanon that Infected met PartyNoob and Split online pre-elevator.

The reason why we assume Infected Apartment and similar floors to be on Earth is because iirc the devs said that Infected is based on old roblox roleplay games, which tended to simulate normal everyday things in society. Like living in a city, having a job, etc. Robloxian "humans" from Earth are distinct from beings like PartyNoob or Pest.

That being said, most "humans" who manage to gain access to the elevator are uh. No longer human by the time they do....