[quote=@Commodore Robot]
<Snipped quote by Polybius>

What they said. A nice green rock or prescience inducing spice that can only be found in a few places goes a long way towards making the feudal hierarchy work galaxy-wide in an otherwise post-scarcity setting. 
[/quote]

Yes, but is this a post-scarcity setting? Shouldn't it be an Emperor and not a United Nations? I think I'm missing something...