In 2025, the newly founded UNEIA (United Nations Environmental Investment Agency) created the concept of the Biotic Commune. These communities would be entirely powered by renewable energy, and purpose built for long term sustainability. 1000 communities worldwide, pulled by lot from regional shortlists, were selected to become the first Biotic Communes, and one of those was the village of Cirac in the Catalonian Pyrenees.

Cirac was utterly transformed. Once so small as to be merged with the nearby town of Ria, Cirac soon became a thriving local town in its own right. Its own, unique take on Biotic-style architecture quickly became famous throughout western Europe, in particular the town centre and the University of Cirac.

The town, as with most Biotic Communes, is a centre for artisanal craft, but it also retains a deeply agricultural character. It's debated whether Cirac Biotic is more famous for its university or for its apricots, with its citizens affectionately referred to as albercoquers in the surrounding region. The university specialises in agricultural studies, French and Catalan cultural studies, history, and the hard sciences, with a total student body of approximately 1000 at any one time. It has a long term rivalry with the University of Perpignan, which usually expresses itself in casual insults and the occasional act of statue-related vandalism.