[quote=Brovo]Real life and classic mythology. Some dungeons and dragons, pathfinder, and rolemaster. Sometimes just straight up brainstorming. It's led to lesbian queens, drow vampires, orc knights, shapeshifters that base their life around judeo-christian mythos... Loads of goodies.
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I think after all this time that the most interesting thing to come out my brainstorming sessions is Selkie/Skinwalker hybrids. They're two mythological races from different cultural backgrounds that actually have quite a bit in common (although the former is usually more benevolent then the later), but I'm not sure I've seen anyone else cross them.

The biology is a bit different to mesh because you're combining one kind of shapeshifter with another that can only turn when certain conditions are met, so finding a happy medium was a bit difficult but a lot of fun. It also led to my twin hybrid characters being born with a single snake skin tied around their necks and nearly strangling to death, but...