The three suns of Planet Namek assure that night never falls over the tranquil plains of blue grass on this peaceful planet. The fertile grassland that covers much of the planet is spotted with a few small villages housing the planet's dominant, although few in numbers, species known as the Namekians, but their small numbers were not always so. Hundreds of years before the adventures of Dragonball Z, Namek suffered a great and violent change which wiped out the Namekian race to near extinction. The only survivors of this change were the great Saichoro, and a nameless Namekian who later split into Kami and King Piccolo. It has many similar species of flora and fauna as Earth, and it can be stated that Namek has a very similar atmosphere and level of gravity as the distant planet of the humans. Due to the amount of life and humbleness of the planet, Namek contains a great amount of dormant energy which becomes very important in it's future.
The Namekians are a race of humanoids with skin colored green, much like the sky of their home world. They have two short antennae on their forehead and the major muscles on their arms, legs, and lower torso appear pink in contrast to the rest of their skin. They grow long, sharp nails and canine teeth and are born with naturally elastic limbs and the ability to regenerate their body as long as the head is intact. The Namekians are a genderless race, although much more masculine than feminine, and are hatched from eggs which are produced out of the "father's" mouth. The Namekians enjoy very long natural lives that last several centuries long. They are, in general, a peaceful race, although Namek is host to a few strong fighters. Some Namekians eventually reach the level of Super Nameks by unlocking what can be called a higher consciousness inside of themselves. Unfortunately, history has proven that almost all Super Nameks become drunk with their power but with the help of the Namekians Dragonballs were banished forever from the Planet Namek. The population of the Namekians has been reduced to just over 100, all of which are descendants of the Guru, Saichoro.
The dragonballs of Namek are similar to those of Earth. They are 7 orange orbs, each with a number of stars ranging from 1 to 7, although much larger than those of the Earth dragonballs. They are tied to the life of the Great Elder, Saichoro, although they do have significant differences as far as ability goes. Once the 7 balls are collected, a dragon will appear when called upon in the Namekian tongue. The Namekian dragon is a great creature much larger than Earth's Shenron by approximately three times. He goes by the name of Porunga and he not only is summoned in the Namekian language but will only grant wishes asked in the dialect. The abilities of Porunga are that he is able to grant three wishes as opposed to one, HOWEVER, his abilities to bring back the dead are limited to one soul per wish, however any one person can be brought back any number of times. This opposes the Earth's dragon as to where Shenron can revive any number of people but can only bring any one person back to life one time.
The fate of Namek is realized when Lord Frieza, the prince of a powerful alien empire, learns of the dragonballs and comes to Namek in search of them. Frieza and his soldiers kill off nearly the whole Namekian race in his search for the dragonballs but is delayed when three parties show up to join the race for the seven magical orbs. Vegeta, having been thwarted in his attempt to obtain Earth's dragonballs, travels to Namek to try his luck there. Meanwhile, Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin travel to Namek in their own attempt to find the balls first. Finally, in time to save his rival, son, and best friend from Frieza's strongest henchmen, The Ginyu Force, Goku arrives to stop the changling prince's plans. With the help of a young Namekian named Dende, the four warriors manage to bring Piccolo back to life and to Namek before Guru dies from the grief of his nearly extinct people, rendering the dragonballs useless. Now with only an angry Frieza in the way of victory, the Z-fighters rush into their greatest fight yet, resulting in even more deaths at the hand of Frieza before Goku arrived on the scene to stand in his way. After and long and brutal match of strength, Goku uses Frieza's inability to sense ki levels and used a Spirit Bomb on Frieza which injured him greatly but not to the point of defeat. In anger , Goku manages to transform into a Super-Saiyan, Frieza's greatest fear. Out of either desperation or tact, Frieza used his power to damage Namek's core enough to cause a slow but steady destruction of the entire planet. With a limited amount of time, Goku used his new overwhelming power to defeat Frieza before the planet was completely destroyed.
