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.
Ancient Feud - Terrain - "This battlefield's province has a maximum strength equal to its base strength."
Ebisu's Honesty (Your provinces have +2 strength.) is in play.
Ancient Feud is played, making the maximum province strength of the battlefield 6 (since that is its base strength).
Then I play Ring of Earth to lower the province strength by 3.
What is the current province strength? Is it 3 or is it 5 (due to the Ebisu province buff)?
Ancient Feud - Terrain - "This battlefield's province has a maximum strength equal to its base strength."
Ebisu's Honesty (Your provinces have +2 strength.) is in play.
Ancient Feud is played, making the maximum province strength of the battlefield 6 (since that is its base strength).
Then I play Ring of Earth to lower the province strength by 3.
What is the current province strength? Is it 3 or is it 5 (due to the Ebisu province buff)?
It's 5.
See Calculating Stats: To get a stat's current value at any given time, do steps A through C, below: A: Apply all current bonuses and penalties. B: If the total is below 0, treat it as 0, unless the stat is Family Honor, Honor Requirement, or a modifier with a + or – sign such as an Item’s Force and Chi stats. C: If the total is less than the highest minimum value in effect for that stat, or more than the lowest maximum value in effect, it becomes that minimum or maximum. See above under “Maximums and minimums” for what happens when a stat is less than a minimum and greater than a maximum at the same time.
So... A: 6 (base) + 2 (Ebisu) - 3 (Ring of Earth) = 5. B: 5 >= 0 so still 5. C: No minimum. Maximum value is 6 which is greater than 5, so still 5.
Whenever a new bonus or penalty is applied to a stat, recalculate the stat from scratch applying all current bonuses and penalties.