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."

"NOW ! The BAG! I had extra fun with this piece. The item is based on what is known as a “hǔfú” (虎符) - which was a kind of “fú” (符), or what we refer to as a tally. (translated: Tiger Tally). Fu was an item or “tool” (tally) that were used by generals or officials as proof of authorization to do certain things, like command armies and troops, sales, leases or as a general proof of authority. These tallies were most commonly made in two parts - where one piece was given to say a commander and the other piece was kept by the government so they could verify the orders given and that they matched. There were variants of fu, serving different purposes, having different shapes and being made from different materials. The most common, however, was the tiger tally. I thought this bag, made to look like a combined tiger tally would be fun and a good representation of Baihu, both in visual and representative subject matter. "