That actually makes a certain amount of sense. We keep conflating the role of Loremaster with being the head of the dragon council because Dunkelzhan seemed to hold both roles, but now that I stop and think about it, I recall that wasn't originally the case. In Earthdawn, prior to the Fall of Skypoint, Mountainshadow/Dunkelzhan seemed to be the top mover and shaker among dragons, but the Loremaster was Vasdenjas. And Vasdenjas had that role not because he was the oldest or strongest or most powerful of dragons (he wasn't), but because he was the one who most loved to learn and to teach. (I wonder if Schwartzkopf was one of his proteges.) After Vasdenjas was killed protecting the Earthdawn in the Battle of Vivane, Mountainshadow took custody of his archives (ostensibly) because he didn't want to risk the Outcast making a grab for them while the dragons were sorting out the Rite of Succession, and so seems to have wound up becoming the Loremaster by default. (Possibly that was his true objective all along.) So having the Loremaster also be the senior wyrm was actually kind of an anomaly (a 7,000 year anomaly, but dragons are like that) that has now been rectified.
Actually, Earthdawn book refers to Vasdenjas as the Loremaster
of Barsaive. In
The Book of Dragons, Mountainshadow use plural Loremasters to describe their role. It suggest there were other Loremasters in the rest of the world, like a Loremaster of Vasgothia, a Loremaster of Cathay, and so on. Loremasters are Keepers of the Rites. Dragons being fiercely independent, few would accept to recognize another of their brethren as a leader. So it's mostly a ceremonial duty for Loremasters to speak first and then enforce etiquette during the council.
In
Survival of the Fittest introduction, the great dragons of the world meet as a single council, and expect the titular Loremaster to open it (except for Ghostwalker, who challenges Lofwyr title). So it seems like there's only one Loremaster in the Sixth Age.
A dragon becomes Loremaster either by killing the previous Loremaster (there's no Rite of Succession when a dragon kills another), or winning the Rite of Succession and taking the previous Loremaster's memory crystals, or receiving the previous Loremaster's memory crystals from the Rite's winner. Maybe a Loremaster can also hand the job to another dragon. So it's like Dunkelzahn somehow "unified the title" like they do in boxing, through either of those means. He may have started as Loremaster of Barsaive, and he obviously moved to the Rocky Mountains before the end of the Fourth World (since he awoke in Denver area in 2012). Becoming Loremaster of the West may have been a way for Dunkelzahn to put an end to the war between feathered serpents over the use of blood magic.
Interestingly enough, in
Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets, someone posted on Shadowland under the login "Loremaster" to challenge Dunkelzahn's Will, and it's not Hestaby or Lofwyr (nor can it be Ghostwalker, who wasn't back yet).
Dragons of the Sixh World heavily suggests it was Nachmeister. "Loremaster" argued over the will, and how it wasn't respecting the traditions. On the other hand, using a title you haven't yet earned is not respecting the traditions either...
So maybe Nachtmeister was Loremaster of Vasgothia, the last of the Loremaster title Dunkelzahn had not already conquered. Thus, he was right in using the title and was only doing his job in asking for a proper Rite of Succession to be held after Dunkelzahn's death. It's Lofwyr, by inheriting and keeping Dunkelzahn's memory crystal, and killing Nachtmeister, who did become the only Loremaster. In this case, Lofwyr would have remained Loremaster of Vasgothia even if he had lost the Rite of Succession in
Survival of the Fittest.
