History Main / FeudalFuture

# A planet has such a social structure. Often justified in post-apocalyptic stories by having technological regression accompanied by a reversion to older social forms (but never further than medieval -- not even to Roman times).

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' takes place in a feudal future set "1,000 years after the collapse of industrial civilization", with the various states fighting over the remaining lands that have not been consumed by the toxic jungle. One of Nausicaa's goals is to prevent her small kingdom, the titular valley, from being conquered by Torumekia. The manga presents a much more complicated political situation than in the anime, which was constrained by the runtime of a film.

* ''ComicBook/{{Lazarus}}'' takes place sometime in the future after the collapse of modern society and has the world being controlled by various different factions that treat the areas they control like fiefdoms. The Carlyle family, (which is noted as being somewhat more enlightened and benevolent than most) even divides up the population into three castes, one of which is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom serf]]". (The other two categories being family and "waste", although at least the Carlyles are willing to allow for a fair amount of social mobility should people show talent, and don't engage in KillThePoor behaviors, as some of their rivals do.)

* ''Film/ThePostman'': The Holnists have set up this arrangement with the towns they extort into giving them goods and conscripts, as Bethlehem explains when invoking [[DroitDuSeigneur his "right" to sleep with Abby]].
* ''Film/LastKnights'' takes place in an unknown future dominated by an empire modeled after a typical European monarchy with an absolute monarch governing through his vassals with aristocrats and knights abound, whereas technology appears to be on the same level instead of being super-advanced. In spite of its European influence, the setting is very ethnically diverse with the nobility composed of Asians and black people alongside whites.
* ''Film/LandOfTheDead'' uses a dystopian post-apocalyptic version, with plenty of [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegory]] for contemporary American economics and society (as per [[Creator/GeorgeARomero Romero]] tradition). After the ZombieApocalypse, UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}'s pre-collapse elites set themselves up as the feudal lords of what's left of the city, with a skyscraper called Fiddler's Green (formerly PPG Place) as their opulent castle while everybody else lives on scraps, competes for the favor of the elites, and only puts up with it because of the zombie-filled wasteland outside Pittsburgh's walls.

* In ''Literature/HeavyObject'', after the collapse of the UN, four supernations control most of the planet. One is Legitimacy Kingdom whose core ideology is that nobility and royalty have the duty to rule commoners and the right to claim land as their domain. The various nobles all claim to be descended from noble families that existed in the past and are now re-establishing their claims. Commoners tend to be at the mercy of nobles and at one point many were actually part of a slave class.

* Terra II in ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ''. The six city-states are modeled after various cultures of EarthThatWas, including feudal Japan, medieval Italy, Tsarist Russia, and Imperial China. The two non-feudal states are based on Nazi Germany and modern-day America.
* The Kingdom of Sphere in ''VideoGame/YoakeMaeYoriRuriIroNa'' rules the moon. Tensions between them and the Earth Federation are a significant plot point.

* ''Anime/AldnoahZero'': The colonists of Mars, who set out to discover and use the planet's phenomenal LostTechnology, declared independence from Earth and formed the [[TheEmpire Vers Empire]], with lead researcher Rayregalia as their new emperor. Below him are the Counts of the 37 Clans, who have knights as vassals of their own. The feudal system actually has some degree of [[{{Justified}} Justification]]: activating an [[AppliedPhlebotinum Aldnoah drive]], which powers the Empire's HumongousMecha and [[MileLongShip Landing Castles]], requires the activation factor, which Rayregalia somehow bound to his own bloodline and can grant at will to his vassals. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the class system intertwined with feudalism has left most of the population of Mars starving, while nobles in mechs with nigh-magical superpowers vie for status by devastating Earth in war. Both sides are not happy about any of this.
* In ''Literature/HeavyObject'', after the collapse of the UN, four supernations control most of the planet. One is Legitimacy Kingdom whose core ideology is that nobility and royalty have the duty to rule commoners and the right to claim land as their domain. The various nobles all claim to be descended from noble families that existed in the past and are now re-establishing their claims. Commoners tend to be at the mercy of nobles and at one point many were actually part of a slave class.

* In ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'' shares in the Company are tied to land ownership on the planet Qresh. And land ownership is hereditary, a lot of the protagonists' jobs are caused by the dynastic politics of the nine major families.* ''Series/{{See}}'': Generations after the unknown catastrophe that led to nearly all humans being blind from birth, eastern North America is primarily occupied by a number of warring feudal monarchies.

Among the commonest societies in SpaceOpera, PlanetaryRomance, and other forms of Science Fiction.

# A planet has such a social structure. Often justified by having technological regression (but never further than medieval -- not even to Roman times).

* In ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'' shares in the Company are tied to land ownership on the planet Qresh. And land ownership is hereditary, a lot of the protagonists' jobs are caused by the dynastic politics of the nine major families.

* Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' (and [[Film/Dune1984 its]] [[Series/FrankHerbertsDune various]] [[Film/Dune2021 live-action]] [[Film/DunePartTwo adaptations]]) is basically nobles feuding [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. True to the trope, they do have some advanced technology, such as starships with FTL-capabilities, nuclear weapons (for defensive deterrence purposes only, by convention), Fast-moving bu[[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] and DeflectorShields, but they tend towards knife fighting (because a relatively slow moving blade can pierce the Deflector Shields, where as Frickin Laser Beams hitting the shields blows up both attacker and defender, and a fast-moving bullet would just bounce off) and don't have any computers. All perfectly justified in the backstory - to wit, the Butlerian Jihad (an immense crusade against 'thinking machines' that had enslaved humanity), among other things, placed House Corrino (Padishah Emperors for the next several thousand years) in power. The prequel novels also show that feudalism has been around even before the Corrino Imperium, with the League of Nobles, and the Old Imperium before that. No one ever brings up the idea of an elected government until the Bene Gesserit (who have always been a democratic organization internally, at least among fully initiated members) begin to acquire an overt empire tens of thousands of years later. [[WordOfGod Frank Herbert stated]] his plan was for the Bene Gesserit to establish a proper democracy, but [[DiedDuringProduction he died before he could write those books]].

* Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's ''Literature/{{Darkover}}''.
* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars Mars]] books.

* ''VideoGame/DyztopiaPostHumanRPG'': The Arcdras formed the Tundrus Kingdom and the Smogs formed the Smog Empire in the post-human world, both of which utilize a traditional aristocracy. In contrast, Zeta is a completely corporate run state while Vulcanite is a puppet democracy in service of Zeta.

* Both averted and played straight by Creator/HBeamPiper. Piper's Terro-Human Future History ended with a series of galactic Empires. This was justified: the universe was too big to hold a vote for general leader. Not only counting a vote of trillions, but also transporting the vote took far too long. The aversion is in the planetary governments: Piper's Empire allowed each planet to be self-governing, under a general Imperial constitution that controlled how the planets interacted with each other. This meant that any number of types of governments existed from planet to planet, from enlightened democracies to totalitarian nightmares. The capital planet of the Empire itself, Odin, was actually run as a constitutional monarchy, with a strong parliament to balance out the Emperor.
** Other stages in the TFH play it straight in entirely different ways. ''Space Viking'' is set at a time when the Terran Federation has gone belly-up, leaving mostly local nobilities to rule, although some have a degree of democracy; Marduk basically resembles Britain, with a mostly vestigial monarchy ruling only in name over a democratic government. (Because Piper believed that [[DemocracyIsFlawed democracy is, at minimum, flawed]], Marduk actually becomes less democratic during the story, due to the rise of a Hitler figure forcing the monarchy to start flexing its muscles once more.)
*** The Sword Worlds, from where the titular Space Vikings came from, are straight-up feudal with each planet either ruled by a king or split between several independent continent-sized duchies, which are divided up into a range of smaller estates down to baronies of farms or factories.

* M. K. Wren's Phoenix Trilogy is this a thousand years after the Pandemic. World civilization was nearly wiped out, and only the more remote areas of the world really recovered. The world (and it's off-planet colonies) are ruled by a series of noble houses, and the government is based in what is today Australia.

* In the history of ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' a number of Great Houses emerged as the First Federation declined. But by the 106th century A.T. most have been supplanted by the Sephirotic Empires of the [[DeusEstMachina Archailects]].

* Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' (and [[Film/Dune1984 its]] [[Series/FrankHerbertsDune various]] [[Film/Dune2021 live-action]] [[Film/DunePartTwo adaptations]]) is basically nobles feuding [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. True to the trope, they do have some advanced technology, such as starships with FTL-capabilities, nuclear weapons (for defensive deterrence purposes only, by convention), [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] and DeflectorShields, but they tend towards knife fighting (because a relatively slow moving blade can pierce the Deflector Shields, where as Frickin Laser Beams hitting the shields blows up both attacker and defender) and don't have any computers. All perfectly justified in the backstory - to wit, the Butlerian Jihad (an immense crusade against 'thinking machines' that had enslaved humanity), among other things, placed House Corrino (Padishah Emperors for the next several thousand years) in power. The prequel novels also show that feudalism has been around even before the Corrino Imperium, with the League of Nobles, and the Old Imperium before that. No one ever brings up the idea of an elected government until the Bene Gesserit (who have always been a democratic organization internally, at least among fully initiated members) begin to acquire an overt empire tens of thousands of years later. [[WordOfGod Frank Herbert stated]] his plan was for the Bene Gesserit to establish a proper democracy, but [[DiedDuringProduction he died before he could write those books]].

Kings, queens, knights, serfs, fiefdoms... and rocket ships. This trope is [[RecycledINSPACE Feudalism IN SPACE!!!]]

* ''Webcomic/LancerTheKnightsOfFenris'' is a FurryWebcomic set in this kind of world. It's about a group of mammalian species who unite in self-defense against the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptilian invaders]] who seek to conquer them all. The mammals seem governed by noble houses while the reptiles have a more centralized empire. The heroes, called "knights", are mammalian space pilots; both they and the reptiles wear uniforms that resemble futuristic suits of armor.

* In ''Anime/AldnoahZero'', the colonists of Mars, who set out to discover and use the planet's phenomenal LostTechnology, declared independence from Earth and formed the [[TheEmpire Vers Empire]], with lead researcher Rayregalia as their new emperor. Below him are the Counts of the 37 Clans, who have knights as vassals of their own. The feudal system actually has some degree of [[{{Justified}} Justification]]: activating an [[AppliedPhlebotinum Aldnoah drive]], which powers the Empire's HumongousMecha and [[MileLongShip Landing Castles]], requires the activation factor, which Rayregalia somehow bound to his own bloodline and can grant at will to his vassals. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the class system intertwined with feudalism has left most of the population of Mars starving, while nobles in mechs with nigh-magical superpowers vie for status by devastating Earth in war. Both sides are not happy about any of this.

* Princess Projecta of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes is part of the royal family of the planet Orando, one of the participating planets in the United Planets alliance which had until recently resisted outside influence and refused to allow the building of a spaceport in an attempt to protect their feudal culture.
* The BadFuture in ''ComicBook/TheWastelands'', of a sorts. Red Skull managed to organize all the supervillains to kill off most of the heroes and afterwards they divvied up America into four "kingdoms". "President" Red Skull loosely ruling the whole country and directly controlling the Eastern Seaboard, Doctor Doom took the Bible Belt, Magneto wanted Nevada, and Abomination had California. Though by the time of the series start Magneto's territory had been seized by a new Kingpin [[spoiler: who, in turn, is usurped by Peter Parker's granddaughter "Spider-Bitch"]], and Abomination was killed by the Hulk and his inbred clan of cannibalistic hillbilly gangsters (the "landlords" of Logan's family farm.)

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':

** Cosmo Babylonia from ''Anime/MobileSuitzGundamF91'' take this to the extreme. Created on the specific ideological principles of hereditary aristocracy and noblesse oblige, and backed up by the Crossbone Vanguard, they seek to create a new nation free from the corruption of the democratic Earth Federation and return to the more "enlightened" ways of the past.

* Terra II in ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ''. The six city-states are modeled after various cultures of EarthThatWas, including feudal Japan, medieval Italy, Czarist Russia, and Imperial China. The two non-feudal states are based on Nazi Germany and modern-day America.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' the 'United Emirates of ORB' have this sort of structure, with the Chief Representative and Prime Minister supposedly being elected from one of the five noble houses, but in reality seems to be a simple hereditary handover until the positions are left vacant due to death or the Chief Representative getting kidnapped.
** ORB's governmental structure is pretty close to the real life example of Malaysia, whose ruler is elected from (and by) the hereditary kings (or appointed governors in case of governorates) of its member states, though in Malaysia's case the position usually simply rotates on the basis of seniority as per gentleman's agreement between electors, and it depends less on the individual electors' power.

* In ''Anime/TurnAGundam,'' the major countries of what used to be North America are either monarchies with at least some semblance of constitutionalism or tribal factions like Adeska. [[spoiler:Given that the state of affairs is ultimately tied to the [[ApocalypseHow Moonlight Butterfly induced apocalypse]], it's justified.]]

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', we know the Zeons are the bad guys because they [[strike:have hereditary nobility]] murdered billions with [[DepopulationBomb nerve gas]] and a ColonyDrop. Also, they have hereditary nobility.
** The Zanscare Empire of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]]'' takes the feudalism schtick even further. Their entire stated goal is to reinvigorate human society by replacing the increasingly impotent democracy of the Earth Federation with a return to a traditional feudal way of life. Might have actually done some good if it hadn't been for EvilChancellor Fonz Ka Gatie manipulating things for his own benefit.

* ''WebVideo/TheTemplinInstitute'': Discussed in several episodes. Marc is not a fan of "Space Monarchies" because, in his view, hereditary monarchies are ineffectual and obsolete compared to modern western-style democracies that reward merit instead of birthright. He argues that any given democracy would be more competently managed as well as more advanced culturally and technologically, and monarchies are doomed to power struggles every time the a monarch dies without a clear heir with a strong claim, weakening the nation further.[[note]]This has been noted as error on Marc's part, as this is a broad generalization of historical monarchies, ignoring that monarchies can be and often were meritocratic (noble titles were awarded to esteemed servants of the state) and democracies are also perfectly capable of being elitist and having power struggles.[[/note]] He also dislikes "Empires" as a formal name for a nation, as he notes that the term once evoked awe and respect but is today used to refer to oppressive colonial regimes; the idea of a nation that is governed by and serves the people as a good thing is so engrained into the modern human psyche that nations [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny will use friendlier names even when they are empires in practice]].

* The BadFuture presented in ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', of a sorts. Red Skull managed to organize all the supervillains to kill off most of the heroes and afterwards they divvied up America into four "kingdoms". "President" Red Skull loosely ruling the whole country and directly controlling the Eastern Seaboard, Doctor Doom took the Bible Belt, Magneto wanted Nevada, and Abomination had California. Though by the time of the series start Magneto's territory had been seized by a new Kingpin [[spoiler: who, in turn, is usurped by Peter Parker's granddaughter "Spider-Bitch"]], and Abomination was killed by the Hulk and his inbred clan of cannibalistic hillbilly gangsters (the "landlords" of Logan's family farm.)

While these ScienceFiction stories are set in distant planets in a world where space travel and futuristic technology is available, the people are still ruled under a medieva-style feudal system. [[RoyalBlood Kings and queens, princes]] and [[PrincessProtagonist princesses]], [[BlueBlood nobles]], [[StandardRoyalCourt courts]], [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights]] (in PoweredArmor or HumongousMecha)....

A form of DaysOfFuturePast which can incorporate elements from the TheHighMiddleAges right up to the [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain Victorian Age]]. The chief characteristic will be that social status is legally enforced and [[RoyalBlood hereditary]]. Occasionally we will be told that the king/emperor is [[ElectiveMonarchy elected]], but it makes no difference as to their authority, and issues regarding who the electors are or who is eligible to run never seem to come up.

[[RecycledINSPACE Feudalism IN SPACE!!!]]

[[RoyalBlood Kings and queens, princes]] and [[PrincessProtagonist princesses]], [[BlueBlood nobles]], [[StandardRoyalCourt courts]], [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights]] (in PoweredArmor or HumongousMecha)....

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' (and [[Film/Dune1984 its]] [[Series/FrankHerbertsDune various]] [[Film/Dune2021 adaptations]]) is basically nobles feuding [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]. True to the trope, they do have some advanced technology, such as starships with FTL-capabilities, nuclear weapons (for defensive deterrence purposes only, by convention), [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] and DeflectorShields, but they tend towards knife fighting (because a relatively slow moving blade can pierce the Deflector Shields, where as Frickin Laser Beams hitting the shields blows up both attacker and defender) and don't have any computers. All perfectly justified in the backstory - to wit, the Butlerian Jihad (an immense crusade against 'thinking machines' that had enslaved humanity), among other things, placed House Corrino (Padishah Emperors for the next several thousand years) in power. The prequel novels also show that feudalism has been around even before the Corrino Imperium, with the League of Nobles, and the Old Imperium before that. No one ever brings up the idea of an elected government until the Bene Gesserit (who have always been a democratic organization internally, at least among fully initiated members) begin to acquire an overt empire tens of thousands of years later. [[WordOfGod Frank Herbert stated]] his plan was for the Bene Gesserit to establish a proper democracy, but [[DiedDuringProduction he died before he could write those books]].

** The Dilgar Imperium, defeated during the Dilgar War a few years before the series, was a strange case, in that they had an emperor and a nobility but the actual power resided in the ''very'' meritocratic military led by the Council of Warmasters, whose members are the nine best soldiers of the Imperium. At the end of the Dilgar War the Imperium was dismantled by Earth Alliance and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, but a new regime failed to emerge due their sun going nova.

* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'', the titular Rihannsu, also known as the [[Franchise/StarTrek Romulan Star Empire]], have such a society: upon settling Ch'Rihan and Ch'Havran, they intentionally organized themselves in a conservative system with hereditary nobility ruling over their fiefs and representing them in the Senate from which they'd choose the twelve Praetors, plus an occasional emperor, because, knowing how warlike they were, they saw this system as a way to reduce their wars, with the only change (going from bicameral Senate to a reformed bicameral Senate with Praetors and the occasional emperor) after the rise of the Ruling Queen Vriha t'Rehu proved the original system wasn't stable enough. It worked well enough as they were isolated from the wider galaxy, especially as the Senators knew well their constituents could and would mail them swords in a not-too-veiled veiled demand of suicide on pain of killing them and electing someone else in their place if they failed their duty, but a horrible first contact ([[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill where the Rihannsu mistook the Federation's attempt at peaceful contact for a ruse to launch an invasion]] as it had already happened on Vulcan before they left, so fired everything they had]]), the long war that followed, and the rapid expansion that followed the war and the loopside alliance with the Klingon showed the limits of the system.

* In ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'' after the collapse of the UN, four supernations control most of the planet. One is Legitimacy Kingdom whose core ideology is that nobility and royalty have the duty to rule commoners and the right to claim land as their domain. The various nobles all claim to be descended from noble families that existed in the past and are now re-establishing their claims. Commoners tend to be at the mercy of nobles and at one point many were actually part of a slave class.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Stars Like Dust'' takes place in star sector written to resemble feudal Russia under the Mongols' rule.

** The Clans have something of a merit-based feudal system, at least among the ruling warrior [[FantasticCasteSystem caste]]. You have to actually ''earn'' your last name, called a "bloodname", in a [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Trial of Bloodright]]. These battles often are to the death. Once you have a bloodname, you get to have a vote on clan-wide business.

* ''Film/LastKnights'' takes place in an unknown future dominated by an empire modeled after a typical European monarchy with an absolute monarch governing through his vassals with aristocrats and knights abound whereas technology appears to be on the same level instead of being super-advanced. In spite of its European influence, the setting is very ethnically diverse with the nobility composed of Asians and black people alongside whites.