Holy symbol of Samedi, god of Death and the Undead

Samedi:
The god of death and undead is much maligned and misunderstood, believed to be an uncaring reaper, cutting down the living when it’s there time or earlier if it’s his fancy. Papa Samedi, with his top hat, cigar, and ever-full glass of bourbon is a reveler, pulling the spirits of the dead from their body and giving them one last celebration before their soul passes onto its ultimate destination. He’s the most prosperous of the Loa, the gods born on the River Thane before slavery was abolished in civilized Olgantha several hundred years ago. His followers tend not to be fatalistic as one might imagine, but instead very aware of everyone’s final fate; they’ve made peace with that reality and do not let it stop them from enjoying what life has to offer. Though Samedi himself rarely if ever appears to anyone living, it’s believed he has at least one avatar in the world, that being a guitar-playing, dreadlocked and scraggly-bearded lich who buries the dead and discarded, carrying a wickedly sharp scythe or kukri he calls "Ansus". It is said that if one happens by the body of the recently deceased and places a copper corbin over each eye, Inicen comes to make them a grave.
Life is short and painful. Enjoy it, be merry and prosper before you die wherever you find love, but remember: gracious hosts never impose.
Samedi’s commandments are thus:
Live your life to the fullest and seek out pleasure wherever you may find it without regret. You never know what breath may be your last.
Show respect for the dying. If a quick death may ease one’s pain, offer it.
 Show respect for the undead. If the unliving has given in to the animalistic tendencies of hunger, madness, and wonton destruction, destroy it, but if not, give them berth if they request it and a kind word if not.

The followers of Samedi, while not fatalistic, do have a tendency to resort to hedonism, taking Samedi’s first tenet as an excuse for debauchery, rape and pillage. These things are not of Samedi. Seek out pleasure wherever you may find it but never take it from someone unwilling or at the expense of others, most especially your loved ones. This is a common thread in all of humanity, whether or not they are followers of Samedi or not, but the powers Samedi’s gifts confer upon his followers make these hedonists truly terrifying.
The maligned image of the god of death is likely due to the savage races’ image of “The Reaper”, an uncaring feller of any who dare cross him who gives no quarter to the living.
Among those west of the Dar Fiuhm desert, Samedi is known as Shani (or Shaniscara) and has an intense focus on punishing those that seek unjust revenge or commit acts of betrayal, and he is often portrayed atop a giant crow, raven or vulture. Shani is also the name of a gas giant that reflects very little light, appearing a deep, dark violet lit by the copper colored expansive debris field surrounding it called the "Chthonic Yarns", believed to be partially made up nearby planet Kali's missing mantle, littered with moons and smaller planetary bodies it draws in from its eccentric orbit (sometimes described as diagonal, at least to most of the system's other planets). It's believed that Shani has swept up a number of dangerous asteroids and meteors that if not for its existence, may likely have collided with Verden, certainly causing mass casualties. While some bodies are believed to be true satellites, they all seem to be devoured into the gas planet's stormy clouds as seen by named moons falling into the planet after a hundred years.

Samedi @
Artwork by PsykoBruttan
http://psykobruttan.deviantart.com/