Probably, citizen? Please report to your local Positive Doubt Disaffirmation Centre...
Certainly Godunya manifests as Yer Actual Dragon Type Thingie in his final struggles with Shang Hsa (MHNBC), as I think was described on the Myth of the Month many moons ago. But it's certainly true to say that he doesn't do, nor need to do, this five times before breakfast on a daily basis, and doing so would probably be somewhat incompatible with his functioning as Emperor.
Peter Metcalfe:
> I think this difference (ie Dragonhood is a spiritual status)
> primarily arises from Kralori practice more than anything else.
> Since Dragons are such vast powerful beings, their capacity for
> intervening in the mortal world is limited. When one is in
> direct communion with the Cosmic Dragon, events in the mortal
> world become insignificant. A good example of this would be the
> August Dragon who sleeps virtually all the time and has only
> been awake four times.
I'm not sure it's precisely true to say that their _capacity_ is limited, though in all practical terms I'd entirely agree. According to Kralori philosophy, being too entangled in the nitty-gritty of the mundane world would be an acute spiritual danger, so an advanced Darudan would hesitate to do so, unless the higher purpose of his own, or others', eventual spiritual advancement demanded such a short-term sacrifice. And certainly it's true that overt manifestations as 'minor' draconic entities (cosmologically small enough to intervene in human affairs meaningfully) carries that danger. (Non-Kralori cynics might counter this is the sort of mystic smoke they attempt to blow up one's rectum on a regular basis, but we need not dwell upon the crude misunderstandings of self-opionated barbarians.)
If the Kralori ever need reminding of the folly of clinging to crude physical manifestations, they need only look at the Path of Immanent Mastery, whose understanding of 'draconicism' is ultimately limited to who has the more iridescent scales, who can squash the most people with their bulk, etc. When you compare that to the profundity of realising the Infinite Dragon that lies within, it's evident what a blind alley it truly is. I imagine bokken are regularly bounced off bonces in official monasteries to caution students against such dangers... "*thwak* Stop Immanentising, Gon Lo!"
Cheers,
Alex.
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