  The standard description of particles and fundamental interactions is
crucially based on a regular metric background. In the language of differential
geometry, this dependence is encoded into the action via Hodge star
dualization. As a result, the conventional forms of the scalar and Yang-Mills
actions break down in a pregeometric regime where the metric is degenerate.
This suggests the use of first order formalism, where the metric may emerge
from more fundamental constituents and the theory can be consistently extended
to the pregeometric phase. We systematically explore different realizations and
interpretations of first order formalism, finding that a fundamental vector or
spinor substructure brings about continuum magnetization and polarization as
integration constants. This effect is analogous to the description of the
cosmological dark sector in a recent self-dual formulation of gravity, and the
similar form obtained for the first order Yang-Mills theory suggests new paths
toward unification.
