Alien politics

I'm coming towards the end of my re-write of my novel Jade, and starting to set up for book two in the series, T'zeen.  Until a couple of months ago I knew nothing about this alien world, save for the fact that my heroine Kaath's father came from there.  Then one day I had one of those bursts of ideas that can only be described as channelling thoughts from somewhere else.  I realised Kaath needed to get involved in conflict with the alien Zarnn whose planet she was going to study.

Kaath has discovered that she is half Zarnn and half human, a hybrid created at the request of her Zarnn father K'ynss and her human mother Astra.  She was created by Bara, a genetic engineer whom Kaath has always thought was an aunt.  In reality Bara is a genetic engineer, and created Kaath by IVF fertilisation, and grew her in an artificial womb.  

The Zarnn are clan-based, and that led me to considering their politics.  What if some clans accepted Kaath's creation, and some thought it was evil?  If Kaath comes down onto the planet that could stir up all sorts of tension.  I haven't worked out what the conflicts will be yet, but I expect she'll face kidnap, death threats, and possibly be rescued by her father's relatives.  But alongside the action I want to explore environmental themes, so she will be dragged into protecting the intelligent planimal on that world, further stirring up the tension.

There's enough there already to drive the story engine, but I like the idea of delving deeper, exploring the politics and ecological ideology of the Zarnn in more depth. I can see a mammoth research session for the novel being needed.

Where would I start?  A good place to look at clan-based ways of living will be to study aboriginal and American First Nations' cultures.  I'd have to be careful not to lift ideas wholesale from any Earth culture.  That would be disrepectful, and anyway some of their culture will, no doubt, not fit my idea of who the Zarnn are.  It's more a process of opening my mind to ideas of how differently they lived from me.  I'd also like to create a system which does away with the restricting nuclear family, and a clan-based system is ideal for that.

I've got lots to be going on with, but I think I'd better finish editing the first book before I start on this new journey of discovery.