Does it? I mean, isn’t that the very essence of the feudal model in the first place? Each level commands a certain range of armed forces, and the highest levels use the collective pressure of their combined might to keep each of the lower lords in line.
I mean, sure, ‘I RULE, I AM STRONGEST’ on its own breaks down pretty quick when people gang up on Mr. Strongest, but once you start cloaking it in ritual and pomp… it’s sort of the basis for every authoritarian system of government, ever.