>Neutrality, as it was originally intended by Gary Gygax, and
>how it came to be adopted in genres which use the LG to CE
>spectrum, was not meant as a balance between actions.

CF uses those words, but they aren't meant to mean the same thingI absolutely agree with what you're saying when it comes to real life and in some other games and books. Maybe it was a mistake for CF to use the same alignment/ethos words. Perhaps they should've been called Morality and Organization or something. If it helps, you can replace those words in your head.

Because the fact is that CF simply defines neutral differently than it is defined in other contexts. In CF neutral really does mean that you are either intentionally balancing good and evil acts, or that you are willing to kill for some grand purpose, but not your own direct benefit, as often.

The whole scale in CF is more evil than it is in reality. In CF, a good character would be considered neutral in reality, neutral in CF would be actually quite evil in reality, and evil in CF is just so ridiculously sociopathic there are only two or three examples in history of people who are that evil, and even that is debateable.

That is simple how it is defined in CF. The words are the same, but the meaning is different.