Quill ( species ) The Quill were a humanoid species on Rhodia . They lived on the smallest of the southern continent s , ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " ) and had a long history of combat and civil war with the other species on Rhodia , the Rhodian s . ( TV : " Co - Owner of a Lonely Heart " ) Biology . The one Quill known to have visited Earth , Miss Quill , was outwardly indistinguishable from humans , ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " ) but this was only because her true form was disguised . She claimed her true appearance could make human s scream . ( PROSE : " Joyride " ) They had a more alien appearance originally , although it was not clear whether one form shown was their true form , or simply one imagined by April MacLean when she learned of Miss Quill ' s origin . In that form , the Quill , appropriately for their name , sported long quills or spines on their bodies , which sprouted from at least their heads and shoulders . Their skin was primarily reddish brown , with black , zigzagging stripes , and pale white on the lower part of the face . ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " ) In an early stage of Quill development , Quill would shed their quills while still in the Quill nest . They would also consume their mothers , though Miss Quill noted that by her time this was medically unnecessary , and no more than a followed tradition . ( TV : " The Metaphysical Engine , or What Quill Did " ) Culture . Miss Quill told a Lankin recreation of Orla ' ath that Quills did not have souls . Orla ' ath said that they did , and also said the Quills believed they died with them . According to Orla ' ath , " all Quill sisters " would try to kill each other in the nest , to test each other ' s strength . ( TV : " Nightvisiting " ) Miss Quill told Dorothea Ames that Quill mothers died in childbirth . Ames understood that their children thus feasted on the corpse in the nest . ( TV : " The Metaphysical Engine , or What Quill Did " ) The Quill worshipped the Quill Goddess . It was believed that she rose from the underworld and burst out of the first Quill nest . Most lost their faith in her , however , when , as Miss Quill explained , a thousand years before Quill ' s time , they realised that the only thing protecting the Quill was the Quill themselves . ( TV : " The Metaphysical Engine , or What Quill Did " ) Charlie , Prince of Rhodia , claimed that all Quill were heartless . ( TV : " Brave - ish Heart " ) History . According to Charlie , Prince of Rhodia , they mismanaged their economy , and grew resentful of the Rhodian s ' success . Miss Quill added , though , that the Rhodians ate up all of the planet ' s resources , leaving them with little to work with . The Rhodians did their best to help , but in the process made them so dependent that they could never recover . The two peoples were eventually at war with each other . The Rhodians won . The punishment they received was considered cruel by Miss Quill , but Charlie found it just : they released a creature into their brains called an arn , which , once it dug itself in , would telepathically link the host to a particular Rhodian , and force them to become their effective slave . While they were busy fighting amongst themselves , the Shadow Kin arrived , and killed everyone , Quill and Rhodian alike . All but one of the Quill were destroyed by the Shadow Kin : a female known as Miss Quill once brought by the Twelfth Doctor to Coal Hill Academy . ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " )