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, 14 May 2010
Hidden Scandal Political Open: From now until the turn ends, after a player gains 5 total Honor from his own card effects, negate his further gains from such effects, and after he loses 5 total Honor from other players' card effects, negate his further losses from such effects.
If one were to play Hidden Scandal before losing any honor, and your opponent were to make you lose 7 honor with a single card effect, would Hidden Scandal's effect:
a) Cap the future honor loss from card effects at 5 (making that 7 honor loss only be 5) b) Only prevent honor losses after the first one as it is now "after he loses 5 total honor from other players' card effects."
A player, 14 May 2010
a) It would make that 7 Honor loss only be 5, and negate his further Honor losses from other players' card effects.
Technically speaking, the 7 Honor loss is split into one first loss of 5 Honor that is applied, and one second loss of 2 Honor that is negated, because Hidden Scandal checks for a specific amount of “total Honor” (see below).
The Player, Family Honor: "EXCEPTION: Some effects may check for a specific amount of “total Honor” gained or lost during a certain period. These effects keep a running tally of relevant Honor changes. If a multi-point Honor change would take the total above the specific amount, the change is split into two gains or losses. The gain or loss that takes the total to the specific amount is separate from, and comes before, the gain or loss in excess of the specific amount. This splitting happens at the “when” timing point of the Honor gain or loss. Example: An action says in part: “From now until the turn ends, after a player gains 5 total Honor from his own card effects, negate his further gains from such effects.” During that period, the player gains 1 point of Honor (total gain = 1), then 2 points from a different effect (total gain = 3), then 3 points from a third effect. Because the third effect takes the total over 5, it is split into a gain of 2 points (total gain = 5), and a gain of 1 point. The gain of 1 point is negated."