Aunified substrate framework is formulated in which physical spacetime metric structure,time-ordering observables, gravitating matter phenomenology, and late-time cosmologicaldynamics arise as emergent operational constructs from an underlying substrate specifiedminimally by its causal spectral response and a regeneration operator class exhibitingdiscrete scale structure. The substrate is not identified with “matter in spacetime,” norwith a conventional quantum field defined on an ontic manifold. An auxiliary Lorentzianchart is employed only as representational scaffolding for response kernels and principalsymbols. Within a minimal admissible local translation-invariant operator class on logarithmiccoordinates, dynamics selects a unique stable ground log-frequency β0 ≃ 4. The empiricallyoperative discrete set is constrained toβ ∈{4, 9, 16, 27.57},with higher members arising as constrained harmonic/projection structures rather thanindependent eigenmodes. Metric structure is defined operationally from the characteristic setof probe propagation; time is treated as a spectral ordering observable associated with stablephase progression. In the macroscopic limit the framework admits a conservative gravitationalclosure as a scalar–tensor effective field theory that can be restricted to gravitational-wavecompatible (Horndeski-safe, luminal) sectors, with ΛCDM recovered as a limiting fixed-pointregime under damping of oscillatory terms. A fixed-β empirical programme is specified withexplicit confirmatory/exploratory boundaries, null-ensemble design (permutation and MonteCarlo/mock-universe nulls), negative controls (including BAO monopole β-silence), andreproducibility protocols. Cross-domain results reported in the associated technical recordare organized under a unified evidence protocol, including strong fixed-β = 4 detections inseismicity and turbulence under null calibration, cross-validated fixed-β = 4 improvements ingalaxy rotation-curve residuals, β-mixture structure in selected cosmological residual sectors,and higher-β phase organization in recurrence phenomena. A documented prospectiveapplication associated with the 8 December 2025 Honshu earthquake is included solely as ademonstration of a prospective scoring protocol