Vortex Sound Research

I make synths in reaktor, I'd like to get to the point where I'm designing them myself and not just adjusting what I see other people doing online, but to do that I need to understand what I'm doing and some of the concepts just don't stick to my brain. This is a big one, and I think it's because it's usually accompanied by a lot of jargon that doesn't quite get across what the thing is supposed to do.

Could someone explain what this does...like I'm five? What are they? What do they do? Why do they matter to a synthesizer?