The Kingdom of The Asrai grew out of Ann Arbor's legislative theater program. In legislative theater, a short play about a particular issue or set of issues that ends in a crisis is performed. The audience is then invited to help solve the issue by taking the place of one of the characters on stage. Audience interventions are followed by a brainstorm and discussion of policies or laws that could help solve some of the problems that came up in the performance, or that could help bring about some of the solutions “spect-actors” (the engaged audience) had offered during the performance. The program was a success, but many spect-actors were dissatisfied with the small scale and inconsistent implementation, desiring an in-depth simulation that functioned as a crowdsourcing platform and testing ground for social innovations. After computer simulations failed to reliably produce useable data, a group of members decided that a live-action roleplay scenario inspired by model UN and the Robin Sage exercises would be more suitable for testing and developing people's ability to effectively collaborate. To add a fantastical, game-like element to the scenario, it was decided that the "collaboratory" would be situated in an underwater city, with an elaborate fantasy worldbuild accompanying it. People would be able to utilize special skidoo technology developed by Square Deal to pilot underwater bio-drones as if they were their own bodies, creating a community of part-time volunteers who would reside in the underwater community for a few weeks in a slice-of-life roleplay that was studied for civic insights. Soon, however, people enjoyed the program so much that they started spending most of their time in the lake, with many even modifying their real bodies to live underwater. This effectively turned the project into its own community, as well as one of the first "fae folk" communities.
Originally pitched for the Great Lakes Avengers campaign, can be modified to take place anywhere with a sufficiently large body of water.