So I was thinking about the various conspirators of the planes, and I noticed something. There are two exemplar races particularly known for their focus on subtle manipulation of events for their own purposes. There's the Rilmani, who can shape-change easily and are constantly giving silent pushes to keep the Great Wheel balanced between Good and Evil, Chaos and Law. And there's the Yugoloths (*winks at Shemmy*) who scheme and plot to further the reach of their evil.
Looking at these two kinds of planeborn, I realized that they filled in two parts of a traditional Rule-Of-Threes construction, with the Rilmani in the middle, and the 'Loths at one end. "See two things, the third is hidden." The Guardinals are the logical choice for a completion of the equation, but they're an impotent bunch, too scared of breaking a twig to get involved in the belief struggle... right?
:shock:
Or maybe they're just so adept at subtley nudging forward the cause of Good that nobody's picked up on it yet...
*the half fey stays quiet*
I don't think of the guardinals as scared or impotent. They often send troops into the Lower Planes to kill fiends, usually lupinals or equinals.
If they scheme and plot to influence things subtly, however, they're too subtle for the game materials they're mentioned in to take notice of it.
Eladrins, on the other hand, never go to other planes except in disguise. They're all sworn not to reveal their true forms except in an emergency situation. They're at least as mysterious and duplicitous as the rilmani and 'loths.