On the Protodynamics of Physical Persistence

General relativity incorporates time into dynamical spacetime geometry, whereas conventional quantum theory treats it as an external parameter. The formally timeless Wheeler-DeWitt equation obtained from the Hamiltonian constraint in canonical quantum gravity sharpens this tension. We address a narrower structural question: can causal order and physical persistence be derived without taking time as primitive? We present a conditional construction from causal, variational and graph-theoretic structure. Two operational postulates state that operationally defined physical existence has a distinguishable physical effect and that realized cause to effect relations are definable without prior temporal or ordinal labels. On causal domains without closed paths, the positive transitive closure of those relations yields a strict nonmetric partial order. To distinguish continuation from generic causal succession, we introduce complete, system-relative realization packets. Certification requires a fixed system definition, operational identification of the product as generated by the source, on-shell dynamics, and satisfaction of every applicable Noether-I balance law and Noether-II identity, with boundary flux accounted for. The resulting direct-continuation relation generates a directed graph. Weakly connected components define derived bearer classes, whereas directed paths retain causal precedence and give recursive continuation and bearer lineage. Persistence is the existence of a directed continuation path between distinct realization packets in one bearer class. Thus, for acyclic causal domains and theory sectors admitting an atemporally expressible action with relevant surviving continuous symmetries, causal order, bearer identity, lineage, and persistence are derived without introducing a clock, duration, temporal metric, or recovered temporal flow.