Shinigami, sometimes referred to by their literal translation, gods of death, are a race of extra-dimensional beings who survive by killing humans to extend their own lives. Shinigami hide there true appearances from most, save for the humans who have come in contact with a Death Note. Although some Shinigami do not appear to have limbs capable of holding objects all Shinigami are able to hold and write with a pen in order to use their Death Notes. Shinigami are capable of flight and use wings as a mode of transportation. When their wings are not in use they retract. Each Shinigami has his or her own written language, with some opting for letters and some opting for pictures, all Shinigami can understand the languages of one another. Some Shinigami can also speak, read and write in Earthly languages. Their main goal is to find humans they can take life from and write their name in their death note. Some Shinigami tend to forget to write names down and some actually die because of this. Shinigami can save other humans they care about if that person is about to die. But the purpose of a Shinigami is to end life not give it, any Shinigami who violates this nature will perish. For the most part, Shinigami live a very vague and meaningless existence, they are unsure of what to even do with their existence. The only reason why Shinigami even prolong their own lives by taking the lives of humans is because even Shinigami are afraid to die. Shinigami who die are reduced to dust, and their remaining lifespan is given to the human they saved. Under normal circumstances, a Shinigami will live forever. Shinigami cannot and are not permitted to have sexual relations with humans nor can they have sexual intercourse with each other. They also cannot reproduce. However, Shinigami may have emotions relating to the opposite sex. While Shinigami possess senses of taste similar to those of humans they do not need to eat food. This is because their organs have rotted to the point where they can no longer gain nutrition from what they consume. In addition Shinigami do not need to sleep and will not die from a lack of sleep, Shinigami view sleeping as evidence of laziness. Shinigami can materialize and de-materialize their bodies at will, and are capable of walking through walls and other objects. The only humans that will see this phenomenon are the ones who have touched a Death Note (i.e. only contact with a Death Note will allow you to see a Shinigami). Physical attacks are useless against a Shinigami, therefor attacking one with something such as a gun will have no affect; the bullets will go right through the Shinigami. The main thing all Shinigami have in common is the Death Note. This supernatural notebook allows them to end the lives of humans before their times, adding the human's remaining lifespans to their own. In this manner, a Shinigami can extend their lives indefinitely. To assist in this, their eyes allow them to see the names and remaining lifespans of humans by seeing the faces of their victims. They are able to give Shinigami Eyes to the human they posess, in exchange for half of that humans remaining lifespan (i.e. a human which is supposed to live 40 more years will lose 20 years of their life in order to receive the Shinigami Eyes. The twenty years the human loses are given to the Shinigami that they are making the trade with). Shinigami give this ability to the human by placing their open hand above the humans head. All Shinigami must possess at least one Death Note, a necessity to extend their lives. Should they manage to come across a second it should, at least in principle, be returned to the Shinigami King. When a Death Note is dropped in the Human World, humans who pick up the notebook may use that Death Note to kill others. If a notebook ever reaches the human world and is picked up by a human, the Death Note's Shinigami must accompany the human until the human dies or the Death Note is willingly given back. Shinigami can explain the purpose of the Death Note to the human, but this is done at their discretion. Shinigami have a number of laws that they follow, if a Shinigami breaks a law the Shinigami will face one of nine punishment levels. The severity is least at Level Eight and most at Level One, and a Shinigami will die if anything above Level Three is applied to him or her. Another level more severe than the rest, called the "Extreme Level" also exists. Shinigami may not kill a human in any manner outside of using a Death Note, and doing so merits "Extreme Level" punishment.