Where is that coming from?  The opposite of doing everything to hurt humanity, could be doing everything to ignore humanity, because "interference would be an unkindness.  We should let them fight their own battles."  For the Wizards against the monsters, they remained neutral.  They probably remain neutral against others.

Not exactly, they aren’t just the opposite of Winter, they are almost compelled to actively oppose it (Summer Knight and Small Favor both discuss this aspect of the two Courts), which means that when Winter’s plans involve hurting people, Summer tries to save them. And vice versa potentially, but Winter doesn’t exactly help people nearly as often.

Thanks for the quote on that.  That's pretty good evidence.  It's followed, iirc, with Harry saying something like "I already do that", and Luccio saying "Now you'll do it in a Grey Cloak".  It was while she was trying to convince him he had to join.  But not to join the council.  That was to join the Wardens.  The Wardens are a part of the Council, but not even the most significant percentage of them.

Yep, you remember correctly.  

And yeah, the Wardens aren’t the whole of the Council, but they are the most active portion of it, with a lot of the rest sitting around doing magical research and other things like that.

The killing of the Law Breakers is good work.  It's like the government that waits until a toxic spill happens and then cleans it up.  It is in their own enlightened self-interest since that is what the Council exists FOR.  It is not done in order to protect people.  If it was to protect people it would be proactive.  They would find potentials everywhere they could and warn them, bring them into the fold.  Create ranks of supporting lower level magic users within the council membership so that they could also have a voice to express their needs, fears and become protected from the other signatories of the Accords.  Instead, they decide they can kill them at will, but don't offer them the most basic levels of protection.

The Council may have been a wonderful organization when it was pulled together, but it isn't anymore.  There are good people in it, but, like Cowl says, it is rotten at the core.  He didn't just mean Peabody, I don't think.

True, to an extent, but I think we’re talking past each other a bit here: I’m in no way saying the Council doesn’t have it’s bad side or doesn’t act in large part due to self interest. So did, say, the U.S. during World War II…but that doesn’t mean they weren’t the good guys compared to what they were facing.

Just throwing in my two cents, the Summer and Winter Courts are neither evil nor good.

Oh, I agree, at least in the moral sense. They’re Fae and thus alien. But again I think our definitions may be slightly off: I referred to the Summer Court as the good guys, in a good guys vs. bad guys context. Their motivations may be alien, but from a human perspective, they’re on the right side.

Like Bob says Summer winning against Winter would usher in a great period of growth and life; which would be better for things like disease than for any kind of “higher” beings. They’re locked in a perpetual contest and either side winning would be extremely bad. Winter may represent a more entropy ridden and deadly system than Summer but they aren’t necessarily bad. Granted most of the ones we see aren’t nearly as fluffy and nice as the gruffs, who were only doing their job, but the eldest queen of winter seemed pleasant enough which seems to imply that others may be as well. The Summer court probably has their share of predators stalking the night as well.

This I don’t agree with. In a discussion of universal balance, sure, yeah, either side’s victory would be awful, because they impact the ecosystem of the earth, and yes, there may be perfectly benign Winter Fae and cruel Summer Fae…but that’s not the normal way of things. In the normal scheme of things, the Summer Court protect and nurture humans in exchange for favors (they like deals every bit as much as Winter), and the Winter Court have men dance to death or women raped for their entertainment. Are the Summer Court every bit as alien, at heart, as Winter? Sure. But they are differently alien, and in a way that is usually less inimical to humanity.

And the White council probably started out with noble intentions but has over time become increasingly self interested. They do good work and fight the good fight when it needs doing but for the most part they just want to safeguard the status quo.

There are actually some sound logical reasons for the Council not to take a more active role in things (Luccio argues them well in Turn Coat), but more importantly, I’m not arguing motivation, I’m arguing what side they’ve aligned themselves with, and they’ve very much decided to protect and defend humanity.

No worse than the White Council also defines the a number of less savory groups probably.  Like, "No worse than the Spanish Inquisition", or "No worse than the Courts of Star Chamber".  "It's all for a good cause" could probably be another phrase, just like was used with those other organizations.

Now, now, Harry's predjudices aside, the White Council is a force for good in the world as a whole. They do indeed do horrible, unforgiveable, things on occasion...but they're also some of a very few people who can stand up against the supernatural evil in the world and do something about it. And they do.

I'm not saying either the Summer Court or the White Council are pure champions of all that's good and right, but they are on the right side, fighting against the monsters that prey on humanity. Neither of them preys on humanity for sustenance or for the sake of doing so, and both try and stop some of those that do (the Winter Court and warlocks and black sorcerers, respectively). That makes them the 'good guys' as far as I'm concerned.

Still, you are right in a sense, I picked the White Council deliberately as a comparison as opposed to, say, the Knights of the Cross, because neither the Summer Court nor the White Council are as pure as driven snow, but that doesn't make them the bad guys.

1]: Not a full one. Monoc Industries is a signatory, as are the White Council, the Denarians, the Archive, apparently several dragons and possibly a few minor gods, as are the parties mentioned below, and likely quite a few others, but these are all I can remember off the top of my head.
1a]: It's all. Jade Court and Black Court have both been explicitly mentioned as following the Accords.
1b]: There are probably individual shapeshifter signatories, but almost certainly nobody with the authority to sign for the shifter community as a whole.
1c]: Yeah, both Courts of the Fae are signatories (hence the name), and I'd say Winter qualifies as evil. And the Denarians being signatories is mentioned in Small Favor.
1d]: As Enjorous stated, no, because they don't want to tie Jim's hands.

2]: Not explicitly, but there's no reason you couldn't have one.
2a]: That's up to you, since it'd be a creation of your game.

I will not refrain from gushing. You are awesome, and I am as happy as a kid at Christmas. I've been looking forward to this game for years now, and it shows all the signs of being well worth the wait. This is great, and you deserve all the thanks in the world.

I will second that 

And I'll third it sight unseen, just from the Nevermore chapter, Harry's sheet, and Rick Neal's Q&A. It looks awesome. 

Yeah, I honestly think we need the rules before we can work out how to do that one mechanically. Cool idea, though.

What class would work best?

Paladin, Cleric, or other Divine class, because building it actually works out right (Champion of God package plus Sponsored Magic with a focus on healing works quite well) or a mundane class like Fighter or Rogue (built with mundane stunts and maybe an Item of Power or three). Wizards and other Arcane classes would run into major issues with conflicting magic systems and the Laws of Magic.

Also, that sounds both hilarious and awesome. Particularly if the original player is another PC with magic of some sort. Imagine Harry's barbarian come to life...

Is Faerie Magic not a sub-type of Sponsored Magic? It is listed separately on Rick Neal's page...hmm...this bears investigating.

I'm pretty sure it is, but listed seperately as a notable example, just like being Summer or Winter Knight is a specialized form of Emissary of Power but listed seperately.