The Balance

The Balance, also known as the Cosmic Balance or Great Balance, was a philosophical concept that decreed it was a multiversal necessity for the abstract forces of good and evil and/or law and chaos to be balanced and that no extreme of either should gain an upper hand over the other(s),   under the notion that none of them could exist without their counterpart. It was the principle behind what was known as true neutrality.

Notable Adherents
Very few mortals or entities fully embraced the Balance, since it required a grasp of events on a cosmic level and those who vowed to maintain it often made enemies. However, some embraced the Balance simply to further their own personal quests for power. Some of those in the multiverse who both believed in and adhered to the concept of the Balance included the following.

General

 * This concept was of concern to many neutral deities and their priests.
 * Neutral good beings often believed in the importance of the Balance, but felt that the concerns of law and chaos did not moderate the need for good in the multiverse.

Individuals

 * Ao, the overgod of Realmspace, was one of the most notable neutral deity proponents of cosmic balance in that crystal sphere.
 * Aurus, a gold dragon of great wyrm age, over the course of spending time among the other races of Toril for over eight hundred years, came to the conclusion that the Cosmic Balance was the driving force behind existence. He also felt that he had a responsibility to contribute in some small part to maintaining it.
 * Girru of the Untheric pantheon was a proponent of the Balance, acknowledging that the existence of evil was necessary, yet he still fought ferociously against its forces.
 * The wizard Mordenkainen was an adherent of the Balance and would intervene throughout the cosmos to maintain it, seeing himself as a chief instrument of the concept.

Organizations

 * The Circle of Eight, a group of powerful wizards on Oerth that Mordenkainen was a member of, were adherents of the Balance and would intervene to maintain it. Their focus was on Flanaess, a major region on their home world of Oerth, making sure no one power gained dominance over too much of the region.
 * Many of the neutral-aligned deities of Krynnspace sought to maintain the Balance in their crystal sphere.
 * Members of the Waterdhavian Cult of Ao strove, in emulation of the overgod, to maintain the Balance among their fellow faiths.
 * There existed a cult on Toril that worshiped the concept.

Races & Sentient Creatures

 * Petitioners of the Outlands instinctively observed the Balance, feeling that every action they took needed to be offset by an equal action of opposite alignment.
 * The rilmani, a race native to the Outlands, devoted their entire lives to maintaining the Balance, no matter the cost or repercussions. They monitored and addressed imbalances throughout the Great Wheel, the Elemental planes, and on the Prime Material plane.

Notable Observers
The following entities fell into the concept of the Balance or acknowledged its existence, but made no effort to actually maintain it like those above.

General

 * Chaotic evil beings often believed in such a thing as the Balance, but due to their selfishness did not care about maintaining it.
 * The agents of the Upper Planes often believed in the existence of a Cosmic Balance, but strove to tilt it in the favor of Good, though with many exceptions (see below).

Individuals

 * Primus, the immortal ruler of the lawful neutral plane of Mechanus and the creator of its inhabitants, the modrons, was an enigmatic figure whose goals were uncertain. Some believed he was a manifestation of order, who instilled in the modrons the purpose of advancing the ideals of law and making it a dominant force in the universe.  According to some legends, Primus once threatened the Balance by creating the law-infused Spawning Stone, then threw it into Limbo, in an effort to bring order to that plane and hinder the spread of Chaos. But others believed that the modrons (and by extension Primus) sought to maintain the Balance, describing them as the "keepers of the machinery of the multiverse", Such as by sending the modrons against the tanar'ri whenever they gained too much ground in the Blood War.

Races & Sentient Creatures

 * The aasimon of neutral good deities believed in the importance of the Balance, but would tip the scales in the favor of Good whenever the opportunity presented itself.
 * In a way, the celestial archons, agents of the Upper Planes, seemed to observe the Balance&mdash;in only that they focused on defending their Good planes from outside forces, rather than interfering with other planes.
 * Guardinals, the neutral good defenders of Elysium and Mount Celestia, also focused on defending their respective planes like the archons, rather than forcing their views on others and not caring to interfere with the forces of Law or Chaos. However, unlike them, the guardinals would interfere with the Blood War head on whenever the forces of Evil were gaining too much ground.
 * Night hags viewed the multiverse as a twisted sort of balance of ever-conflicting forces, but due to their selfish nature they did not care which force the scales were tipped in favor of.
 * Slaadi were a race of beings interested in the spread and triumph of Chaos over the other forces. However, there were conflicting reports and theories that claimed, if enough time was spent on a plane of either extreme Good or Evil, a slaad would feel compelled to maintain the Balance by acting in a manner opposite of the plane. One example was Grellon the Green, a benevolent green slaad that traveled the Lower Planes.

Notable Detractors

 * Chaotic neutral beings typically believed that there was no such thing as a careful balance of forces in the multiverse.
 * Those who inhabited the Lower planes, such as fiends, didn't believe in the Balance. The concept was in direct opposition to the Blood War and the very notion that eventually either chaotic evil or lawful evil would triumph over the other in the conflict, becoming the only form of evil in the multiverse. Additionally, adherents of the Balance often interfered in the Blood War to prevent either outcome from ever occurring.
 * The Way philosophy of Kara-Tur espoused that there was no such thing as the forces of Good, Evil, Law, or Chaos&mdash;they were merely labels thrust upon the fundamental forces of the universe. One of its two sects, the Light Way, espoused maintaining the natural balance of the world and events, though this is not necessarily the same as the Balance, depending as it does on wholly different forces. In fact, the central concept of Yin and Yang illustrated the interconnection of opposing forces and two opposing forces being partially composed of the other, involves a very different notion of balance.