The March of Time

Have you ever stopped to think that many of the arrogant young masters about whom you've read are already arrogant old masters? Or dead. That happens frequently.

Apology for the Maligned

Everybody's always treating arrogant young masters like real foul dudes, but I just want to say if they're both young and masters, maybe they aren't actually arrogant.

On Conscientious Governance and Adapting in Response to Circumstances

The provincial capital's most eminent, or those who aspired to that position, had lined up outside the governor's residence earlier than some of them awoke on a typical day. They awaited the new governor.
He came. Striding toward his door, he moved as if unaware anyone was there aside from him, but he began speaking before he passed the first well-wishers in rapid words full of good sense. "Gentlemen, the custom for freshly installed officials is to set out their program for their terms, and I cannot imagine violating it. First is this. The most knowledgeable about local conditions and the most studied in the law will consult for the purpose of creating a code of laws to apply to a group of people which I am told is now over eight percent of the population, higher than the thugs who stand in a field and wait to be killed an looted, another problem our energies must go toward solving. What is that you're wearing?"
The governor had finally stopped, square in front of one young man.
"It's a baseball cap."
"I don't know what that is. Are you one of them? How did you get here?"
"I fell into a canyon and died, then I woke up here."
"My condolences. These people are who I mean, gentlemen. Special skills?"
"Magic-suppressing magic."
"Of course, of course. Stay steady and we'll take care of you." The governor resumed his march to the residence. "Second, the administrators of the magic schools here, a strangely large number it seems to me, are to provide an explanation of why they're always wrong about which talents are good. It saps confidence, gentlemen. Third, I want a justification for the policy of distributing bullies among these schools. Fourth, respecting these multiple reports of amnesia . . ."
Finis

Addendum

Granted, some of us are resolved to become arrogant young masters, but that isn't an exclusive goal.

Happy New Year

I would ask everyone's resolutions, but we all share the same one: To humble those arrogant young masters.

Speaking of Successors

Have you ever seen a story where somebody's mad about being passed over for succession by the master and thought that dude had a point? But then again, it's often unclear why people want to succeed in the first place. The master never seems to be having a fun time. Get off that mountain and become a bodyguard or something.

Philosophical Implications

The difference between the hero and the villain is where the camera is pointed.