I encountered the legend of Baba Yaga, in the first edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. (In the "Artifacts and Relics" section, a favorite of mine.)
In any case, I was inspired and a little disturbed by the description of Baba Yaga's Hut. It was described simply as a hut on chicken legs, with nothing about Baba or any of the history or folklore related to her. (Too bad.)
Years later, this idea has stayed with me, especially as I discovered turn of the century illustrators that had tackled this "eater of children" so incredibly well. Sadly, Yaga's hut is rarely ever pictured, though one can find her riding her flying mortise and pestle in many of the illustrations.
Baba Yaga is an Eastern European legend, one that often claim by Slovakian folk; which so happens to be my primary stock. (I'm a mix of a little of everything, though I'm finally proud to say that I'm a little more of one thing, than another.) My Grandfather was 100% Czechoslovakian, and I guess he would always correct people saying that he was SLOVAKIAN! Anyway, "Jaga" is the Slovak name for "Yaga".
So with that in mind, the borrowing from folklore ends there. You can go and read everything you'd like about Baba Yaga, and it probably shouldn't spoil anything here in my story. After all, Baba Jaga is now in Monstru; she's clearly decided to make her living as a bounty hunter, and she seems to enjoy sitting in a flower pot.
That's not in Wikipedia, folks, and likely will never be.
- Daniel
