To the far north and east lie the traditional homelands of the Storm Elves, ruled by a great Khan. Each Khan is selected by council upon the death of the previous khan, and only in death does his claim to rule end.
The current Khan has held his position for nearly 800 years, and shows no signs of relaxing his iron-fisted control.
Khan Dalantai was selected by the Council of Storms through a unanimous vote, as they must all be, after 50 years of debate and infighting to secure the position. No storm elf clan-leader would ever follow a khan that their council member has rejected, nor ask his people to. When no one candidate is universally accepted the clans will often fall into squabbling and raiding each other, though deaths seldom occur, as few wish to risk outright inter-clan warfare.
The life of a storm elf is somewhat analogous to the real world Mongols of the 12th century, living in mobile bivouac encampments, hunting for food or raiding known settlements. Storm Elves have a tense relationship with the hobgoblin nation to the south, often erupting into brief or extended warfare. One notable difference is that the Mongol nation wasn't nearly as well known for it use of necromancy.
Nations of the west tremble in fear of the Khanate of Storms, and well so. A party of one hundred elves, and their four hundred or so ponies can quickly become an army of thousands, depending on the age and skill of the spellcasters riding.
In one recent and notable event, an elder hunting party of seventy three rode west into dwarven lands largely undetected due to their small size, and the dwarves predilection for underground living. Upon arriving at the gates of the Dweomer-Hall of dwarf-clan Brickarm they demanded a sum of gold and slaves so large that the gate guards merely laughed and turned them away.
The elves, expecting such treatment, retreated ten miles from the gate and began their casting and rituals. Waylaying all who traveled to or from the dwaven hall, drawing the long dead from the earth everywhere within riding distance, and opening teleportation gates to prepared circles thousands of miles east with the preserved dead awaiting transit, their numbers grew swiftly. Within one week, dwarven scouts sent to investigate disappearances reported stumbling across an amassing army of skeletons, zombies, wights, ghouls, ghasts, banshees, specters, and wraiths numbering in the tens of hundreds. The dwarven clan leaders sealed the gates, and called all dwarven men and women to arms. By the time war plans were drawn four days later, the ranks of the undead army had swelled to over ten thousand, all within one day's overland travel to the Dweomer-Hall's gate. When the army broke upon the dwarven gates nearly all those within were killed or taken as slaves. Only nine were spared. One for each direction on the map, and one to dig as deep as he could, till he died, or found another race to tell his woe.
In relation to the Free Cities Conclave:
The Dragonspine Mountains north of the conclave are a strong, but not perfect, defense against the typical tactics of the Khanate, and so the Free Cities Conclave have been largely ignored for the lower hanging fruit of the city states and loose confederations to the north and west. Large, open fields and plains, and gently sloping scrublands abound to the north and have allowed the Khanate to strike those places more easily, but as the distances become greater, and the terrain becomes steeper and forested, the Conclave becomes a more and more attractive target.
As a matter of preparation for an eventual strike, the Khan has sent ambassadors and delegates to the easternmost cities of the Conclave; Redwell, Second Breakfast, and Sarai. In those places storm elves are seen as an oddity, and are only as common as the Silk Elves hailing from the south. Willowton, and the college which oversees it know the threat which the Khan represents, and have rejected official parlay, while Ironvale Forge has banned all storm elf visitors and strongly discourages all storm elf presence in Ironvale City above. Wyvern's Keep has not received an official delegation yet, mostly due to the distances involved in overland travel (and through Ironvale territory) and the elves reluctance to travel by ship unless strictly necessary.
Mechanically:
Elven race per 5e PHB
Storm Elf subrace:
+1 Int
Proficiency with Scimitar, Javelin, Short Bow
Proficiency with Animal Handling
Bonus Cantrip: selected from the wizard list, casting stat is Intelligence
Bonus Gear: One Storm Pony and saddle
All NPC Storm Elves encountered with class levels will be one of:
Bard (Valor)
Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
Ranger (Beast Master: Falconer, or Horizon Walker)
Wizard (Necromancy)Typical names for Storm Elves:
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