Hidden Defenses and Rule of Presence

L5R CCG Rules board, 13 January 2012

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, 13 January 2012

"Battle: If you control no Personalities (in play), target one or two Personalities at any location: Bow them. Negate their straightening."

How am I supposed to be able to use this card if I don't have any personalities in play, and therefore, at the battle? As I understand it, the text "If you control no Personalities" is a restriction to play, not an exception to the rule of presence (which would read like Heavily Engaged: "Even if you control no units at the current battlefield."

Is there something in the rules I've missed that makes this legal to play without presence?