If the Abyss is sentient what exactly is Lamshtu's role. Does she rule over the Abyss? Or is she just a glorified avatar/herald of it?
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If the Abyss is sentient what exactly is Lamshtu's role. Does she rule over the Abyss? Or is she just a glorified avatar/herald of it?
The Abyss's sentience is not something that can be quantified as something like stats. It's more akin to the myth of Earth being a living thing (Gaia, Mother Nature, etc.) than it being a giant living organism.
Lamashtu's role is the boss demon. She doesn't rule over the Abyss itslef, but is one of the most powerful entities in the Abyss (possibly the most powerful).She's not an avatar or herald of it. The Abyss doesn't have avatars or heralds.
Lamashtu is a goddess and has full control over her realm, but she is not the ruler of the entire abyss.
It's genuinely hard to rule over the entire Abyss, since, for example, the Qlippoths are actively hostile to everything else in the Abyss and aren't going to respect your authority if you tried to assert it in their presence.
Probably "the Abyss has intentionality" is a way to get a handle on how vast and chaotic it is more than anything else.
Also, are there any other sentient planes or demiplanes in canon?
Also, are there any other sentient planes or demiplanes in canon?
You could easily anthropomorphize the entire structure of Axis, since it has a set of rules that are expected to be followed, the plane tolerates anything within the rules, and objects to any violations or abrogations of the rules. It's not like "the plane itself manifests a pseudopod and smacks you for bad table manners" but local authorities will somehow become aware of even minor rule breaking nearby, which you could view as "the plane itself objects to what you just did."
Like Axis is "the rules" and also "the rules know if you have broken the rules."
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Also, are there any other sentient planes or demiplanes in canon?
The Mnemovore has already been mentioned, but I'd suggest the Maelstrom being "alive" in a way similar to the Abyss. Its native proteans have at points been described as akin to its immune system, and their dualistic divinities the Speakers of the Depths have been described as being perhaps best thought of as personifications of the plane itself.
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Also, are there any other sentient planes or demiplanes in canon?The Mnemovore has already been mentioned, but I'd suggest the Maelstrom being "alive" in a way similar to the Abyss. Its native proteans have at points been described as akin to its immune system, and their dualistic divinities the Speakers of the Depths have been described as being perhaps best thought of as personifications of the plane itself.
That's certainly an interesting possibility, but I think that ironically makes the Maelstrom feel too young. It's the primal state of reality, after all, and as such should predate life itself. It's certainly unstable and morphic and random and entropic in its nature, but it's not sentient.
The Speakers of the Depths certainly are, though, and are also the oldest living entities native to the Maelstrom.