VES is most coherently formulated as a layered theory. Its strongest mathematical sector is a statistical theory of low-acceleration gravitational response in a heterogeneous locked-phase medium. Microscopic elements possess critical accelerations a_c and follow the deterministic depinning mobility of an overdamped phase coordinate. VES identifies the macroscopic gravitational interpolating function with the ensemble average of that mobility. If the threshold ensemble contains no macroscopic information beyond its mean a_0, maximum-entropy closure with a uniform reference measure gives an exponential threshold distribution. This produces the closed Bessel–Struve response: μ_B(y) = y ∫₀¹ e^(-yu) √(1 - u²) du = (π/2) [I₁(y) - L₁(y)], where y = g/a_0, with a deep limit μ_B ~ (π/4)y and a Newtonian tail 1 - μ_B ~ y⁻². More generally, p(s) ~ C s^β near s = 0 implies μ(y) ~ C A_β y^(β+1), linking the low-threshold spectrum directly to the asymptotic gravitational law. The current theory imports rather than derives its nonrelativistic field equation, has no relativistic completion, and does not derive the absolute value of a_0. External-field locking, the redshift evolution of a_0, informational emergence of spacetime, particles-as-vortices, gauge emergence, and cosmology are therefore assigned conditional, open, or retired status as appropriate.