I'm not sure where they were pulling inspiration from but I appreciate their unique presence in the PRotF universe. It really gives the realm its own identity as opposed to the usual humans, orcs, and elves type fantasy setting. There are a lot of similarities to Fenris given the lyrium fusion and slave background but it's hard to say if that's a coincidence. Justin was part of building up the story behind the Archai, but the team before him came up with the model/idea correct? I'm not even sure who among the original team that would've been involved in the creation of the unique races has persisted to the team today.