Corels

Corels is a term used in speculative fiction and worldbuilding to denote two related ideas: a class of self-sustaining communities and a family of distributed software agents designed to coordinate resources. In social-urban fiction, Corels are modular settlements organized around cooperative governance, shared food and energy systems, and resilience to environmental stress. They emphasize local production, circular economy practices, and participatory decision-making, often drawing on permaculture and sociocratic principles. Corels typically feature autonomous microgrids, water recycling, and repair-oriented economies that minimize dependence on centralized infrastructure. Cultural life in Corels centers on mutual aid and flexible social roles to adapt to changing conditions.

In technology-focused fiction, Corels describe distributed software agents or cyber-physical systems that coordinate tasks across a network without relying on centralized control. Corel architectures favor peer-to-peer communication, provenance and open standards, fault tolerance, and evolvable protocols that can adapt to new requirements. They are commonly depicted as improving efficiency in logistics, disaster response, and city-scale services while maintaining transparency and user control.

The meaning of Corels varies by work, and some authors treat Corels as separate but related concepts within the same universe. The term is not widely used outside speculative fiction and worldbuilding contexts. In real-world contexts, Corel is more commonly encountered as a proper noun for Corel Corporation and related software products, not as a generic term for these fictional concepts.