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 May 2008
Can one use Earthen Guardians to create a personality at a battlefield when you have no units present? I found this ruling on the forums:
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59063&p=760435&hilit=earthen+guardians#p760435
However, p. 43 of the rulebook glossary was pointed out to me, which states under under the definition of army:
"One or more units on one side at a battlefield. However, when a side has no units, the term "army" does not restrict actions that move units there, create units there, or count the number of units there. See "Attack Phase" p 33."
How does this interact, if at all, with the rule of presence?
Alex Jones (rules official), 1 May 2008
Can one use Earthen Guardians to create a personality at a battlefield when you have no units present? I found this ruling on the forums:
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=59063&p=760435&hilit=earthen+guardians#p760435
However, p. 43 of the rulebook glossary was pointed out to me, which states under under the definition of army:
"One or more units on one side at a battlefield. However, when a side has no units, the term "army" does not restrict actions that move units there, create units there, or count the number of units there. See "Attack Phase" p 33."
How does this interact, if at all, with the rule of presence?
An action that moves a unit into an empty army implicitly breaks the Rule of Presence, because of the exception. However, an action that creates a unit in an empty army must explicitly break the Rule of Presence, using text similar to "Even if you have no units at the current battlefield, ...".