The most important person in a house is the hru'hfirh or Head of House. The hru'hfirh is responsible for the members of the house, maintaining the house's mnhei'sahe and the day-to-day financial and social dealings of the house. The eri'hfirh, or heir, assists the hru'hfirh. The status of the house and the responsibilities are decided by the hru'hfirh, but usually the importance of House members is as follows: hru'hfirh, eri'hfirh, auethnen, and then llaugh and rianov with equal rank.
There is the added complexity of adoption. An adopted member of the family has the same rank and receives the same respect as a blood member, but with the added responsibility of another house, perhaps. Adoptions are commonplace in Rihannsu society.
Another commonplace practice is a unique form of revenge, usually prompted by mnhei'sahe in the case of the murder of a child, known as rrh-thanai, or "hostage fostering." In this situation, a house steals the children of a rival house and rears them as their own. A family that has loses their child in this manner usually never sees them again.
The foundation of Rihannsu culture is the family unit. The family includes not only parents and children, but also extended family members and servants. Lineage is determined through the matriarchal line and an important consideration when certain inherited positions of state are to be filled.
Physically each "House" is constructed of several smaller individual family units, usually gathered together in one large military-style complex for defensive purposes. The goal of each House is to be able to protect and defend its members without assistance.
However, each Lesser House also owes allegiance (militarily and politically) to one of the powerful Great Houses and would expect that the aligned Great House would come to their aid if necessary.
History
To understand Romulan clans and their role in contemporary Romulan society, one must first look into the past and examine their beginnings. At the true beginning of Romulan history, back before the sundering, there were a multitude of clans. The primary 'Romulan' clans, as they would later become, were those who were the largest contributors, in both currency and property, to the Far travel ship construction project.
As their elitism would have it no other way, a major clan had control of their own ship-- in all spreading 19 major clans over 20 ships. The 20th ship was reserved for S`Task's own house, which, while not a primary clan itself, was of obvious political clout. With only 6 fare ships left at the end of the long journey, the 'Romulan people' as they declared themselves, were limited to only 5 major clans: the Khelliana, Gilgamma, Aanikh, Zorek, and Jorani. Likewise, there were only a few more minor clans-- some of which had formed on the ships during travel. As all clans dropped their Vulcan names upon land fall, and created new ones, the sub houses don't always seem to make sense. In essence, some of the sub houses are named more closely to their Vulcan ancestry.
Prominent Houses in Contemporary Romulan Society:
Great Houses
Khellian
Illialhlae
Lesser Houses
Strevon
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