This paper presents a primitive‑level derivation of mass and gravity within the MID/QC substrate framework. Using only the three irreducible primitives—Polarity, Torsion, and Coherence—it shows that mass arises from polarity‑induced boundary formation, and gravity emerges as the coherence gradient generated by these boundaries. Photons, as expressed quanta carried purely in torsion, do not impose polarity and therefore remain massless while still following coherence gradients through torsion‑guided propagation. The familiar relation E=mc² is recovered as a substrate identity: energy is the coherence cost of maintaining a polarity‑induced boundary multiplied by the torsion propagation constant. This derivation is self‑contained for readers while arising directly from the primitive structure and logic established in the MID/QC Foundations Series.
Chadwick Rasque (Mon,) studied this question.