Shugenja

Shugenja are the priests of Kara-Tur, spiritual guardians who focus on tapping into and balancing the natural elements. Like samurai, they usually come from the noble class, but some are also orphans adopted by noble families or inducted into the priesthood at a young age. Shugenja enter the Realms in similar ways to samurai. They act as priests and spiritual advisors to nobles along the Golden Way. When travelers from Kara-Tur found Shou Towns, Shugenja bring the old ways to the new world. They help to make small oases of tradition in very foreign environments.
Unlike samurai, shugenja are not bound by a strict code of morals. They do not need to serve a particular master, thus they can travel the world as they see fit. They are drawn to disturbances in the elemental balance of the world. This leads them on adventures to right environmental wrongs, destroy blights on the land, and keep the balance of the elements.
Shugenja of Shou Lung are known as dang-kai and are adherents of an elaborate religious philosophy known as The Way. As part of their belief system, they reject notions of good, evil, chaos, and law and instead focus on manipulating natural, universal energies toward a desired end. (More information on the dang-kai appears in the Kara-Tur boxed set, particularly on page 28 of Volume I.)
Because of the greater freedom allowed to shugenja, it is more common to find them in the company of Western adventurers than to find samurai. In recent years, shugenja have been drawn toward the disturbances caused by the rage of dragons, rain of fire, and the transformation of the High Moor. While still uncommon, the proliferation of Shou settlements along with a shugenja's inherent attraction to natural imbalances has greatly increased the presence of this class in the Realms.