balance in nothingness and okura is released

L5R CCG Rules board, 1 June 2015 to 2 June 2015

A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.

A player, 1 June 2015

so my personality got feared and he interrupted with okura is released, then i interrupt with balance in nothingness. will it negate okura as remaining effect?

Alex Jones (rules official), 2 June 2015

so my personality got feared and he interrupted with okura is released, then i interrupt with balance in nothingness. will it negate okura as remaining effect?

No, because when he's targeted, your Personality isn't bowed.

See the Action Sequence: A. Announce B. Pay costs C. Choose targets D. Interrupts E. Check targets and resolve effects F. Finish

Your Personality is chosen as the target in step C, but nothing happens to him until step E, which is when target validity is checked and effects resolve which are triggered by a card being targeted. Balance in Nothingness, like Okura is Released, is played in Step D, creating a delayed effect which triggers as described in Step E, except at this point he's not yet been bowed by the action so it does nothing. The Fear effect then bows him, triggering the delayed effect of Okura is Released, which destroys him.