I don't know about the need to be totally alone. I mean when you talk about the evil gods they invariably always have servants and even trusted minions. It's a very different kind of relationship dynamic for sure...one based on deception, fear, hatred, etc. But I think it would be a disservice to the origin story to have a fully enforced solo playstyle. Don't get me wrong here, it should be very difficult to bend companions to your will to faithfully serve you, even the ones already evil aligned, because evil after all is not sharing. But it should not be impossible.
I got the sense that it wasn't enforced, but you do need to possibly give up something to keep certain people in your party, or maybe you need to do something for them. So maybe that translates to checks against your own nature to see if you are willing to do that.
Given the choice between greater power and helping a companion I think we understand what the pragmatic choice is here. Let's say for every companion you sacrifice you gain a certain level of power, stats, skills, abilities. So do you sacrifice them to your Divine Crucible to absorb that power, or do you resist that urge?
In fact, I am almost 100% certain that is exactly the choice you face. Sorry, but bye bye Shadowbae.
