We now have a character without a player. If bento shows up again, he can certainly re-claim his shugenja. But since Otaru is tied into this already, if someone out there wants to join the group as a shugenja, they should speak up, and possibly take over one of the PC's in the IC thread. I would allow moderate alteration to him, but the race and class are set in stone. Spell, skill, feat, and equipment selection would be open.