Emergent Reality Architecture: Probability, Gravitation, and Physical Regimes This paper introduces Emergent Reality Architecture (ERA), an ontological and structural framework aimed at clarifying why modern physics contains three persistent puzzles that are typically treated separately: quantum phenomena that resist classical intuition, massless propagation (e.g., light) whose trajectories carry no proper time (null structure), and gravitation that appears as curvature rather than a conventional force. Rather than proposing new equations or modifying established dynamics, ERA examines representational assumptions that are often implicit in contemporary theory—specifically the widespread assumption that spacetime geometry is fundamental and that time admits arbitrarily fine resolution. ERA argues that these assumptions are not directly empirically mandated and that several foundational tensions arise when they are treated as universally valid outside the regimes in which they succeed. At the core of ERA is a constraint–freedom engine in which physical behavior depends on the relationship between imposed constraints and finite representational capacity. Within this framework, probability arises as residual freedom among admissible configurations; determinism corresponds to representational saturation; and emergence is forced when lawful behavior can no longer be coherently represented within a given regime. ERA identifies four representational regimes—configuration (Regime I), distinguishability (Regime II), ordering (Regime III), and metric closure (Regime IV)—each introduced to resolve specific structural failures of the one below it. Quantum phenomena arise naturally in regimes lacking metric closure; massless propagation originates in a regime that supports relational distinction without internal temporal ordering; and gravitation is interpreted as the geometric instantiation of ordering constraints once metric closure is enforced. In this view, stable orbital motion can be understood as the metric-closure encoding of temporal persistence (“temporal rest”) when time-relational stability must be expressed within spacetime. ERA is offered as an explanatory framework, not a competing dynamical theory. Its contribution lies in clarifying why probability, gravitation, and regime-dependent physical behavior—including quantum contextuality, null propagation, and orbital persistence—can be structurally unavoidable features of physical description, while preserving the empirical validity of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Related work: Two complementary conceptual clarifications within standard general relativity are developed separately. Orbits as Inertial States: Rethinking Rest in General Relativity (Zenodo) isolates the distinction between inertial rest (geodesic motion) and spatial fixation (non-geodesic constraint) in curved spacetime. Geodesics as Regimes of Persistence (Zenodo) unpacks how the geodesic classification (timelike/null/spacelike), via the sign of ds², encodes distinct modes of physical realizability—persistence with proper time, persistence without proper time, and geometric relations without physical worldlines. Revision note (5 Feb 2026): Deepened the dark-matter analysis by extending its functional role to galactic scales, clarifying how dark matter halos act as distributed geometric buffers that stabilize increasing ordering demand without particle-level rendering. Integrated supermassive black holes into the same constraint-management framework, describing them as localized rupture boundaries that arise when buffering capacity is exceeded, rather than as independent gravitational anomalies. Provided a unified structural explanation for observed halo–black hole scaling relations, including the M–σ correlation, as necessary outcomes of balanced buffering and rupture within a single representational closure. Clarified that galaxies are treated as coherent representational systems, in which extended dark matter curvature and central singularities jointly delimit the operational bounds of deterministic metric closure. No new forces, particles, or dynamical equations are introduced; all additions remain architectural extensions consistent with general relativity and ΛCDM phenomenology. Correspondence: Peter Nowicki — peternowicki@proton.me