Ok, I have another question.
In the piece I'm working on I need term for extended family and I don't want to use clan, because it just seems too pseudo-celtic-new-age-touchy-feely to me.
Here is how one of the characters described the social unit I'm looking to name
"Large extended Families that are more than just kinship groupings. They are economic and political entities. Some have very specialized areas of interest, like producing pottery, others like Isjh, my family, have quite diverse holdings similar to Terran multi-national corporations."
Any suggestions?