Nothing conspiratorial need be envisioned to make sense of the development of apostolic succession in the early church. Almost every institution goes through rapid institutionalization after its founder or founders are gone. It is the most natural thing in the world that the early church, facing the triple pressures of heresy, schism, and persecution during the tempestuous second century, and in the absence of the apostles, would evolve a more centralized, hierarchical organization.
