Cristofer's first filius, the bookish Clement, was discovered by Aegidius and Cristofer in the midst of their search for magical practitioners throughout Tympania. He was trained jointly by the two founders until 188, when he took up residence in Evasendia with Cristofer and Touccio.
Passionate about books even from his youth, Clement was largely responsible for the accumulation of the Order's library in the years prior to its founding. Even while studying under the founders, he found the time to form and maintain a network of relations with Evasendia's dealers in curiosities and rarities, and he never missed an opportunity to acquire any volume which crossed his path. It was said of Clement that he far preferred books to people, and his influence on the development of the House is largely responsible for Cristofer's later reputation as the House of Librarians.
Clement was declared mage at the founding ceremony of the Cholaeic Order in 198. As mage, he took control of the Order's library in an official capacity. As the Order grew over the next years, Clement also took it upon himself to keep and maintain careful records of the Order's membership, its apprenticeships, and all of its mundane allies and contacts.
Clement is often criticized for having shown more concern for his books and documents during the anti-mage uprisings of 232 than for his mundane allies and associates, many of whom were murdered by the angry mob. His defenders, however, are quick to point out that had the Order's records fallen into the hands of the mob, even more of the Order's members and allies would doubtless have been located and killed.
Although successful in protecting his library, Clement himself was very nearly killed in the uprisings and managed to escape only through magical overextension which caused him severe mental damage. He was later to recover his facilities, but the experience left him with a revulsion of magic which lasted the rest of his life: after 232, he was never to use magic again.
Haunted by his imaginings of what would have happened had the witch-hunters managed to seize his exquisitely-detailed records, Clement determined that the Order's library needed to be moved to a more isolated and defensible location. In 232, he led his descendants to lower Ballicastra, where they founded Annalum to serve as the Order's central library and records repository.
From 240 on, as the Cholaeic diaspora made it increasingly difficult to keep track of the far-flung members of the Order, Clement campaigned for the establishment of an Order-wide census. The overworked and understaffed magi of Annalum were unwilling to embark on such a project, however, until Clement returned from Cristofer's death-bed in 252, strongly implying that the compilation of such a census had been the Founder's dying wish. The First Cristoferean Census was completed in 258.
Although Clement was a strong supporter of the plans for an Order-wide Tribunal, he was—perhaps mercifully—not to live to see this dream become reality: he died in 264, five years before the First Tribunal was held at Annalum. He had taught two students:
- Ennius (C4), from 202 to 215
- Arrius (C6), from 215 to 230
His descendants comprise the vast majority of House Cristofer.
