Ananamartar

The primary keepers of burial grounds, the Anamamartar (Q."those fated by doom") maintained extensive archives of rituals and locations. The brethren of the order considered themselves true Anustari, as,unlike some of the other religious fellowships, they practiced a restric-tive social discipline involving drab clothing,ritual prayers and sensual self-denial. The Arthadan commons, unlike most of the Men of Middle-Earth, had had little experience with formal clergy or Priests; they considered monks of this sort odd. Like several similar organizations, the Anamamartar were stricken by the sack of Andrath. Along with the destruction of property and records, it lost most of its leadership, including its lindamil (Q. "Song-mother"), the Lady Eldiriel. The surviving, northern half of the fellowship was tainted by suspicions that some of its members had aided the Witch-king's sorcerers in cursing the Barrow-downs, helping to create the plague of evil spirits that now haunted the ancient graves. The Anamamartar remained an important historical resource for scholars and respectable adventurers seeking information on old ruins and burial sites. They would not, of course, deliberately aid overt grave-robbers.