Quillar

Quillar
Species information
Type	Plant

A staple of the Inner Sphere, quillar is a prolific and flexible bioengineered crop used in many foods and beverages.

Overview

Common throughout both the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth, quillar is hardy, bountiful, and incredibly adaptable. Between the two states, quillar finds frequent use as a substitute for traditional common ingredients, be it in German cuisine, Italian cooking, French fare, or Spanish sustenance - a near universal application. Grown in fields akin to something like old Terran corn, like typical grain it can be processed into many forms with unique textures and flavors. Unlike a typical grain, however, it can act beyond traditional bounds, and be adapted into various vegetable and fruit substitutes. Quillar even has a presence in Asian dishes despite of the tumultuous history between House Davion and Kurita.

The plant is logically a staple farm crop, grown on planets such as Alexandria (where a quillar farm was operated by the family of Galen Cox until their deaths during a Kurita raid in 3039) and Rijeka (where Albert and Nadine Sanderlin owned a farm) in the Lyran Commonwealth and (apocryphally) on New Avalon. Quillar was also taken on Kerensky's Exodus to the Clan Homeworlds, the plant being present on planets such as Tranquil in 3060.

Of additional note - quillar is extraterrestrial in origin.

Applications

The depictions of foods and beverages quillar is known to be used in are as follows:

• Omelettes, as a potential ingredient;
• Peanut-butter & quillar sandwiches;
• Jellied quillar smeared on toast, a condiment with a fruity taste popular in both halves of the Federated Commonwealth in 3062, but considered a luxury in the Draconis Combine;
• A sugar substitute, granular quillar, added to breakfast cereal
• Tea
• The base of a flavored syrup

Apocryphal Content Starts

The information after this notice comes from apocryphal sources; the canonicity of such information is uncertain.
Please view the reference page for information regarding their canonicity.

• A vacuum sealed ration format;
• And Quillar Fizz, an apocryphal carbonated beverage - typically fruit flavored and nonalcoholic;

Notes

• Quillar is stated in apocrypha to be twice the size of Terran corn, and to resemble an ordinary grain - albeit large.

Apocryphal Content Ends

• The flexibility of quillar bears parallels to the flexibility of corn, which itself ranges from grain to vegetable to high fructose corn syrup.
• Jellied quillar within a sandwich was said to be yellow-green in color, and capable of staining clothing.
• The sayings "like a quillar ripe for the plucking" has been used to describe vulnerability, and "like a fat quail waiting to be shot in the quillar fields" used to describe inaction.

Bibliography

• BattleTech (video game)
• Illusions of Victory (novel)
• Lethal Heritage (novel)
• Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers
• MechWarrior, Third Edition
• Of the Dust of Dreams (short story)
• Patriots and Tyrants (novel)
• Shrapnel Issue 12
• Storms of Fate (novel)
• Trial Under Fire (novel)
• Warrior: Riposte (novel)