Going by the ruling here.
It seems like the gold cost on Arakan - exp's ability is more or less just reminder text in EE until IE starts up. My understanding is that his ability has a gold cost, but we are to pretty much ignore it and assume it means the equip action (paying all costs). At least that's what I'm getting out of the ruling. If not, please correct me.
How does Blood of the Preserver work in accordance to the ruling?
Blood of the Preserver - exp Maho Battle/Open, pay * gold: Target your dead Personality. Bring him into play if his Gold Cost is equal to or less than the amount paid. Lose 2 Honor. Destroy this Item.
So can Luxurious Silk pay for this action as it is directly saying that this is the action's cost? Or if not, and we are just paying only for entering play, can we still bring a personality in to play paying 2 less gold if he is aligned to your faction with this action? Or do we have to only go by the action's cost? Because by the ruling, we aren't paying the cost of the action, we are paying for the card entering play.
Specific questions: If we are paying for the personality entering play, can we pay 2 less gold? And if we aren't paying for the personality entering play and we are paying the action's cost, can we use Lux Silk for this action? And if we are paying for the ability's cost, why here and not for Arakan - exp?