You mentioned that wizards tend to be "near the top of the food chain" in their ecological niche. That led me to wonder what level of sentience is necessary for wizardry... after all, we know that even Terran trees have the Speech.
And to make a long random train of thought short, that caused me to imagine a Zabriskan Fontema wizard from the Lensman books: what duties would be asked of it by the Powers That Be and how it would perceive that responsibility. Thanks for the amusing mental digression!
"Babe, it's easy. Just roll to defeat entropy."
"Is that all? I'm rolling now!"
"Then you've got it. Keep doing that. Just keep your purpose in your, uh, [not head, not head, they don't have heads] self."
"Okay."
"...And yeah, make some more fontemas when you have a moment. ...But try not to overrun the place."
"Okay."
(it rolls away)
(whichever of the Powers that Be that deals with fontemas) "Okay, that wasn't too tough. What's next?"
(another of the Powers) "Here, try these guys."
(a pause) "Okay. Cute name. 'Tribble.' And what do these guys do again?"
