This item is part of the final JD shopdrop. Hastings dropped the lore in the forums: "My design takes inspiration from Báihǔ (白虎) the “White Tiger” from Chinese Mythology. It is one of the four symbols in the traditional Chinese constellations, and has what are called “mansions” within it. Other than being a constellation, Baihu represents the West (direction) and the autumn season, with the other symbols representing the other seasons and directions (The green dragon, east & spring. The red phoenix, south & summer. The black turtle, north & winter). Other than being one of the symbols, Baihu is also considered an “inauspicious animal” - more simply put; “unlucky”, in contrast to “auspicious” being “lucky”. The reason for this is primarily due to what else Baihu symbolizes; death, war, punishment and judgement. Bet y’all’re thinkin’ “damn, Hastings - that’s rather grim”, and you’d be right, it is, but Baihu also represents a lot of things I have a connection to or enjoy - tigers, autumn and decay (don’t get me wrong, the latter is in a more “return to nature” sense). It is also worth to note that there are a few sources that do consider all of the four symbols/mythological beasts to be auspicious due to their status as either “gods” or “guardians”- and throughout history there has also been varying accounts of animals, colors etc that represents each direction, season and even elements. The four symbols as they are most commonly known is the more “modern” variant. (ex, addition: in the Five Phases system there is also an animal for “center” direction, Yellow dragon/Qilin, also representative of the yellow emperor). SO yeah - some believe Baihu to be the divine beast of death, slaughter and war - while other ancient beliefs paints it as the fair judge who can bring control, promote virtue, punish and ward off evil etc. In many cases, figures like these are both - but I won’t claim to know the truth of it."

"the boots are inspired by more “northern” or “colder” attire. Primarily taking inspiration from Traditional Mongolian leather boots with a slightly curled toe, but made to be even “warmer”, by making them thicker, with a fur trim and with rope/thick laces to tie it all together - the modern/stylized twist (though ties around the boots are not completely uncommon for the Mongolian style boots, but they were/are mostly featured on fighting boots). "