Clemente Rodriguez was Roberto's father, and it is from him that he inherits his bold and assertive nature. Clemente was an adventurer, a soldier, a mercenary, a cavalier (caballero villano), a farmer, a husband, a father, and a heroic martyr. Clemente was born in Old Castile, and grew up in the city of Burgos. As a young man, he consorted with soldiers and adventurers and joined a mercenary company when he came of age. He earned fame and fortune in his many escapades, quickly rising in rank and status as a Caballero Villano and commander of a small company in service to King Alphonso of Castile.
Roberto credits him with several heroic deeds, some which are based in truth and others which may be somewhat fictional (he learned these tales from his father and his old companions, and old war stories take on a life of their own sometimes). It is claimed that Clemente had adventured in every kingdom in Iberia and had travelled as far as Italy and Ireland. He entered a tournament as a masked cavalier, and by unhorsing the reigning champion (a noble Caballero Higaldo named Don Ozcar) he earned his armaments (he entered the tournament wearing no metal, just leathers and a wooden pole for a lance). He once bested a giant in a wrestling contest using clever trickery, getting the giant to overeat and drink too much first. On the battlefield, he had bested over a dozen challengers in single combat. He captured twenty towns in the name of the king, and there is a tale of clever strategy associated with each one.
Clemente became a rich man, and settled down as a farmer as part of a fuero on the Castian frontier. His wife, Maria Oestridez, was a Mozarab Christian maiden from an aristocratic family that fled Malaga and resettled in the newly liberated teritorry. She bore him his only son, Roberto, and they had a peaceful and happy life for several years.
Then came the fateful day when Almohad raiders attacked the fuero and burned all of the buildings to the ground. Maria pushed young Roberto out the window just before the flaming rafters collapsed in on her.
Roberto watched as his sixty year old father, unarmored but with sword & shield in hand, slay over a dozen raiders and their horses single handedly. But eventually Clemente was overcome by the weight of numbers. Roberto his, as any wise child should do. Too overwhelmed to continue crying, the child retrieved his fathers sword and wandered away.
Roberto wielded Clemente's sword for many years in many battles. Old and battered, he gave it to his sodale Wirth to use as an Arcane Connection when Santiago gave him the gift of a new one of higher quality from Toledo.
