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, 26 September 2007
I was wandering if a gain a battle again a unit with followers and that my opponent saves his personality (for exemple with a few against many), i still destroyed the rest of the unit (the followers) but can i play brilliant victory?
brilliant victory: Reaction: After you destroy one or more provinces or units by winning a battle: Gain 3 Honor.
I suppose that yes a unit has been destroyed. But my real question is what if there is no card attached to the personality and it is saved (like with hida sozen base in legacy for exemple). Is the trigger destroyed a unit could be activated even if that destroyed no card in reality?
Zen Faulkes (rules official), 26 September 2007
I was wandering if a gain a battle again a unit with followers and that my opponent saves his personality (for exemple with a few against many), i still destroyed the rest of the unit (the followers) but can i play brilliant victory?
No. Everything in the unit must hit the discard pile.
Note that some effects "save" by returning a card immediately after it is destroyed; you could play Brilliant Victory after those. That said, I don't think there are any in Samurai Edition at the moment.