So, I wrote to them regarding the NT inspiration, and response:

NT was the first kernel we were familiar with, so a lot of early decisions like the high level organization, coding style, driver model, and debugger were inspired by NT. As we fleshed out the implementation and became more familiar with the intimacies and patterns of POSIX, our designs started to reflect more of those structures and models. We believe it to be a novel hybrid of compatibility towards Unix-like application space, but with a strong API at the kernel-driver interface. The chrooting trick also forces us to keep the Unixisms out of the kernel (no hardcoded paths to /sbin, /etc), which may enable more dedicated/direct scenarios where full compatibilty isn’t required. There’s a lot of legacy that can be cleaved if you don’t require compatibility.