Why Did It Take So Long For The Cosmic Hierarchy To Be Established?

[theherodjl]

If we look back from the earlier chapters of DB then the answer is obviously because Akira Toriyama hadn't thought of it yet but as for an in-story explanation, why did Goku & friends not learn about Kaio, Dai Kaio, Shin, Dai Kaioshin, Beerus, Whis, all of the other Shinjin, Hakaishin, and Angels, Daishinkan, and Zeno until they actually met all of them? Its kinda amazing that such an enormous & grand hierarchy of divine beings exist but no information or implication of their existence came about until they personally became involved in the latest storyline. Being on Earth is understandable since its a planet located in the boonies but once characters not from Earth started appearing like Vegeta & Freeza, there still was a major lack of knowledge about the divinity of their own universe. Vegeta & Freeza both knew of Beerus but it apparently slipped their mind when they both claimed at one point that they were each the universe's strongest warrior. Kaio knew of Shin, Beerus, Whis, and that there were other universes with the same types of beings there but he didn't feel compelled to tell any of the Z Senshi about it.
Is ignorance bliss in DB?

[Lionel]

Probably had something to do with hubris in the minds of Vegeta and Freeza. They had only met Beerus... what, once? Clearly he left a lasting impression, one which was immortalised in their thought processes. Given how vast the universe is and with Beerus's profession, maybe they were believing in the unlikelihood of crossing passes with the Hakaishin once again. Should Beerus happen to destroy a planet that Freeza owns, I doubt he would do little more than just write it off as expendable and move on. Vegeta would have had less exposure since he was technically an operative of the Planet Trade Organisation instead of a leading figurehead like Freeza.

King Kai is obsequious to an almost extreme degree when it comes to the Kaioshins, Beerus or angels. Knowing how Goku is, he might have been hesitant to mention them as it would have compelled the Saiyan to seek them out for a fight or training. You can imagine how that would sound to Beerus or others when they hear that it was King Kai who pointed them out to this upstart Saiyan. It's possible that he could even get a visit from them afterwards. You saw how worried he became when he realised that Freeza was the one on Namek whom Goku's group had come into contact with. It was at his expressed insistence that Goku not confront the tyrant, and Freeza is much more of a localised menace with no apparent means of reaching King Kai in the first place.

The Kaioshins don't seem to be nearly as authoritative but I think King Kai would have neglected to mention them out of reverence anyway.

[Polyphase Avatron]

North Kaioh was terrified of Goku finding out about Beerus because he knew he would try to fight him. So it's obvious why he never told him.

Shin didn't even know much about Beerus and nothing about Zeno.

Vegeta had no method of gauging how strong Beerus was when he met him as a kid, other than he was stronger than his father. In the BoG movie, Vegeta only freaked out about Beerus once North Kaioh told him that he had defeated SSJ3 Goku in two hits.

Freeza was just arrogant and figured he could get away with boasting about being the strongest if there was no one around to directly contradict his claims.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

One thing for sure if that each position within this hierarchy doesn't communicate that much between each other.

The only proxy between Kami and North Kaio is Enma. Even between the Kaios they don't meet that often and they barely interact with the Kaioshin. I think in Universe each deities have their strict role and they have to habide to their roles and rules. So it's a hierarchy really compartmentalized.

I think in definitive that is the lack of proxies / intermediaries that makes this hierarchy not so spread and known to the whole Universe.