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Loremastery is the discipline of understanding the breadth and depth of Elf Lore and the ability to report on matters without bias. Though it is permissible and expected for Loremasters to discuss the morality of their subjects, these moral judgments must not come at the expense of the reporting of information; one must have accurate and clear information to declare something evil, and must not be driven to that declaration through ignorance or deceit. Before the Great Migration, Loremastery was solely the province of the Elves, and was a strictly Elvish discipline; after the Great Migration, Mankind had come to master it as well, leading there to be two distinct traditions of Loremastery in the world.
Elvish Loremastery
It should be little surprise that the Elvish Loremasters are the greatest and most learned of all who die; their long lives permit them to attain a mastery of lore that is unobtainable for the short-lived races. The old traditions of Loremastery are kept alive in the remaining lands of the Elves, such as Ardolain and Ásoedh, though it is now Ardolain that has the greatest repositories of Elf Lore in the world.
Elves who hope to become Loremasters must learn at the feet of an established Master, who then teaches his student secret techniques to memorize the whole of Elven history. Studying to become a Loremaster takes a long time, and seems to be dependent on the personal aptitude of the Elf being taught; it seems that some Elves learn in seventy years, and others in only twenty, and that each Loremaster teaches his students according to their ability, and that he seeks to strengthen this ability over the course of his teaching.
Loremasters among the Elves are always men, though women may also learn from them. One of the chief requirements of Loremastery is the growing of a beard, which is ordinarily something Elves do not do; the beard is as much a sign of station as it is wisdom. The purpose for which women learn from them is to become a different sort of scholar, one who depicts history through tapestries and paintings. These artists take on their own apprentices, but they refuse to divulge the secrets of the Loremasters, necessitating those seeking this profession to be first apprenticed to a Loremaster, then to an artist-historian.
Elven Loremasters dwell in great academies scattered throughout Laredhidan, where they write their histories in great books and teach their apprentices. Before the arrival of Man, the greatest of these academies was in the Great Realm of Madhoncaris, but after that Realm's destruction the academy in Ardolain became the greatest. Academies exist among the Wood Elves and the Cídh, but these are little-known and are likely not as great as those in Ardolain and Ásoedh.