Because I think whoever is setting the quests and getting the interaction time is also helping set the tone of the world you’re creating.
Why does the" quest giver" dictate the overall interaction? Won't most of "the quest" be outside their presence? The high priest of Tyr may only be in the first and last scenes of a story.
The rest may be spent talking to the underpaid watch, buying them drinks and food so they tell the PCs about the strange things in the mist. The neighborhood priest may be their guide, to an unfamiliar area, providing context "from below".
By the same token, perhaps the quest originated from the neighborhood priest, who approaches the popular and well respected heroes because the local authorities are refusing to stop illegal press gangs and the priest doesn't know how high the rot goes. The bailiff of the ward? The baroness of the city? The duke commands the navy, is he to blame?
A campaign should cover a mix of elites, authorities, military, merchants, workers, outcasts, and monsters where each can be the role of petitioner, informant, assistant, obstruction and villain.
What I got from OP is that the setting books were exclusive to the "top down" view, which is often disconnected and with fewer direct personal connections ("..the armies of Dunwaid invaded the eastern territories, claiming much land..") while "bottom up" views are often more personal ("...then Big Ulric took Jeb's good iron plow and left him that bent wreck..").
The "quest" thing is adventure design, while setting books often don't have adventures. One thing that Shadowrun did in their settings was to have "in-character" books (i.e. a pirated PDF of "The Far East, by Jeff McHero") with a "sidebar" that was an internet forum, giving you an "official" story and public discourse on a topic. You learned which posters were skeptics, conservative, liberal, sock puppets, etc and could get an idea how different stratums of society perceived events.
Earthdawn, also from FASA, interspersed letters and documents that were "in-game" to provide the context. Perhaps more of that would help.