Now that switched from Fantasy to Science Fiction, I need an idea that breaches the divide. Well, I don’t have to have a smooth transition between topics, but it’s best if I try.
Luckily one thing that many a Science Fiction story shares with Fantasy is the Feudal System.
Our descendants in the far future will recognize what a pain in the ass democracy is and will choose to live under the benevolent hand of interplanetary royalty.
Of course everything is better with a princess, or two (thank you Disney!)
It allows to transfer all the Ye Olde Tropes from Yore to the far future. Much easier for a writer to deal with one Evil Chancellor as opposed to thousand of scummy, faceless politicians arguing in whatever governing body lies at a center of a galactic democracy.
It also explains why you have a Galactic Empire, although more often than not said Empire rises from the ashes of an earlier Republic. Then again, depending on the author the current system might be better, worse or about the same as its predecessor.
Then again interplanetary kingdom of sorts, whether controlling a single planet, system, sector or galaxy is a recognition that space is really, really, oh so really fucking big! In order to control a galaxy wide Empire you would need to be able to travel/communicate at multiples of the speed of light. Therefore breaking down the known universe into more manageable chunks under the control of military officials (spoils system) or members of your family (system of the spoiled) makes more sense than spending years on the space telephone while traveling around the galaxy checking up on millions (if not billions) of your subjects.
Finally, royalty tropes, whether a long time ago and/or in a place far, far away (in Star Wars you get both with loads of of Princesses and Lords to boot) appeal to a time in our lives when our parents where the absolute (benevolent ?) rulers over us and knew better. It also stimulates the authoritarian/totalitarian node in our brain. After all, a successful king/emperor is just a dictator/conqueror who managed to transfer not only acquire political power but also transmit said power to his descendants and that is not that far away from our own experience.
And now to show you a bit of the Feudal Future:
Sturm und Drang 