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, 25 May 2012
This question i could not find a specific reference for. The closest comparable reference is in regards to Chi death. It is stated, the action that last caused the Chi to hit 0 is also what is considered to have caused the Chi Death. If no action caused it, it is a game rule effect. Bold emphasis mine...
"Chi Death Rule: If a Personality's Chi is ever zero, destroy him immediately. The source of Chi death is the card whose costs or effects caused it, or the rulebook if it was not directly caused by a card's costs or effects (for example, if a base 2C Personality with a +1C Weapon and a -2C token loses the Weapon). Note also that the source of the effects of tokens can usually be traced back to a card's effects. This destruction for having zero Chi may only be negated or prevented by effects that specifically negate or prevent destruction for having zero Chi."
What about Dishonorable personalities, and the loss of honor from dying? The only relevant line in the rules from the section on Honorable/Dishonorable personality states is this...
"After a dishonorable Personality is destroyed, the player who controlled him or her loses Honor equal to the Personality's base Personal Honor. This is a rulebook effect, not a card effect."
No other wording is offered in the rules regarding the source of the dishonor loss. So if someone ranged attacks a dishonorable personality, the ranged attack is not the source of the dishonor? Is the player who uses the ranged attack even the source of the dishonor loss? this has implications in War of Honor, but also for cards like Rhetoric, so I want to be clear.
Ben Higgins (rules official), 26 May 2012
This question i could not find a specific reference for. The closest comparable reference is in regards to Chi death. It is stated, the action that last caused the Chi to hit 0 is also what is considered to have caused the Chi Death. If no action caused it, it is a game rule effect. Bold emphasis mine...
"Chi Death Rule: If a Personality's Chi is ever zero, destroy him immediately. The source of Chi death is the card whose costs or effects caused it, or the rulebook if it was not directly caused by a card's costs or effects (for example, if a base 2C Personality with a +1C Weapon and a -2C token loses the Weapon). Note also that the source of the effects of tokens can usually be traced back to a card's effects. This destruction for having zero Chi may only be negated or prevented by effects that specifically negate or prevent destruction for having zero Chi."
What about Dishonorable personalities, and the loss of honor from dying? The only relevant line in the rules from the section on Honorable/Dishonorable personality states is this...
"After a dishonorable Personality is destroyed, the player who controlled him or her loses Honor equal to the Personality's base Personal Honor. This is a rulebook effect, not a card effect."
No other wording is offered in the rules regarding the source of the dishonor loss. So if someone ranged attacks a dishonorable personality, the ranged attack is not the source of the dishonor? Is the player who uses the ranged attack even the source of the dishonor loss? this has implications in War of Honor, but also for cards like Rhetoric, so I want to be clear.
You are correct that the honor loss from a dishonored Personality dying is solely a rulebook effect, and thus cannot be Rhetoric'd.
Within the context of War of Honor, there is the special stipulation that if you announce the ability that kills a dishonored Personality, you do get "credit" for that honor loss to help you move up the Path of Victory. This stipulation exists only in War of Honor however, and still does not allow the honor loss to be Rhetoric'd in WoH games.