Hill felt that there might originally have been someone the River Styx found useful, yet did not entirely trust.
That was quite normal.
Toril had plenty of people like that. They had some principles and were unwilling to commit evil in other worlds, yet they might have worked with both Devils and Demons.
Although the Gods would also cooperate with such people, a being like the River Styx might judge them more harshly.
When forced into a corner, it might cast them an inviting glance, but if there were another option, it would never choose to work with them.
Such people sounded unusual, but Toril alone had quite a few of them... people like Waterdeep's Mad Mage did not even have much of a reputation among that crowd.
Not to mention the Natives of Abeir. Some of their stronger members were quite willing to wander throughout the Multiverse.
Some people also loved following the trail of Star Spirits... so although the Toril-Abeir universe had never seen much major turmoil, it actually had many connected worlds, even worlds it indirectly controlled.
It was merely that Mages were unwilling to hand advantages to the Gods... everyone knew how the Mulhorandi Pantheon had arrived on Toril, and how it had directly destroyed an immensely powerful Mage Empire. They also understood that a purely Mage-run regime could not control ordinary people's hearts turning toward the Gods... because no one could ensure that all their subjects would become Mages.
Without soil for fairness, mortals would naturally develop a longing to pray for their future.
Even if Mages could control such a world for a thousand or ten thousand years, Gods born in response to ordinary humans' desires would eventually appear... whether those new Gods belonged to that world or not, they would swiftly establish divine