Rulings Under Examination

What does it mean for a ruling to "be under examination"?
The ruling is preliminary and might be changed later.
Sometimes there's only one good example of an uncommon interaction, so it's hard to extrapolate how that sort of interaction ought to work in general. What seems right in the moment for that particular case might turn out to be a poor fit when the design space is explored further. (For a simple example of this, consider the game Stage caused by the early-placed Stage III card against The Kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussia Level 2+.) Changing the ruling later comes with the cost of players having to re-learn the interaction when the ruling changes, with many not even realizing that it ever changed.
Nevertheless, not having a ruling leaves the question unanswered for years while waiting for more examples to arise. A ruling tagged "Rulings Under Examination" gives players a workable answer in the short term, but signals to players that they should be prepared for the possibility they'll eventually get a different answer.
Once such a ruling has been changed, it gets tagged as one of the few Changed rulings.
Tags: Rulings Under Examination

What's the timing of ongoing effects expiring?
All "this turn" effects wear off at the same time. For now, assume all normal Time Passes activity (discard, lose elements, clear damage, ongoing effects expire) is simultaneous. Cards like "Gift of Constancy" (which modify discarding Powers) or "Unquenchable Flames" work because they explicitly specify a timing.
Rules for non-standard things that happen during Time Passes (like Shroud of Silent Mist's "Slow and Silent Death") can be done before or after effects wearing off unless otherwise specified.
If it ever becomes clear that there really ought to be some sort of internal ordering to Time Passes, we'll call out that ordering in whatever expansion / FAQ it becomes relevant.
Tags: Time Passes, Timing, Defend, Action Modifiers, 38 more...

When a Power Card is played face-down for the Ward the Shores Scenario, which Elements does it have for the purpose of Choice Events that are aided by a particular Element?
While in play, it contributes no Elements to Choice Events (and you can't Discard it to help). However, it can be Forgotten as if it had the Elements on the face-down side of the card.
Tags: Elements, Choice Events, Rulings Under Examination, Ward the Shores, 0 more...
When playing a Power Card face-down in the Ward the Shores scenario, is the card still a Major/Minor/Unique Power Card for the purpose of abilities that care (e.g., the Immense Aspect)?
No, a Power Card that's played face-down loses its prior type.
To cover specific cases:
- The Immense Aspect does not gain 2 Elements for playing a Major Power face-down.
- The Intensify Aspect can't spend an Air Marker to use a face-down Minor Power during the Fast Phase.
- During the Ethereal Conjunction Event, all face-down Power Cards count as non-Major Power Cards, and can be used by that Event to add a Warding Pattern.
  Tags: Rulings Under Examination, Ward the Shores, Immense Aspect (Lightning's Swift Strike), Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 1 more...

If Finder of Paths Unseen has an action which both directly destroys Invaders, and *also* triggers their destruction by moving them, does it lose Presence twice from Responsibilities to the Dead? What's the timing?
As written, no — it's a single triggered action, so can only be invoked once per other action. It can just be invoked by two different things.
Responsibilities to the Dead is weird in that it's a triggered action which checks consequences of other triggers on the same action — it would be much cleaner if the game never did this, but just checked all triggers exactly once at the completion of each action. For now, we're going to roll with it as written, but if it proves a problem it'll need to be tweaked.
(Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Triggered Actions, Rulings Under Examination, Responsibilities to the Dead (Finder of Paths Unseen)