Species: saiyan

サイヤ人, Saiya-jin

A fictitious race of humanoid aliens from the Dragon Ball Universe. Saiyans are a warrior-race of humanoids with ape-like tails, their true homeworld remains a mystery and may still exist in the depths of space. In the interim Saiyans conquered the planet Plant from the Tuffles and renamed it Planet Vegeta, after their most distinguished warrior King Vegeta. This planet was ultimately destroyed by Frieza due to his fear of the prophecy of a Super Saiyan emerging to challenge him. Following this crippling defeat Saiyan's were pushed to the brink of extinction.

Pure-blooded Saiyans are born with a monkey-like tail that can prove a significant weakness if they have not trained to deal with it. Pulling or attacking the tail can be debilitating to an untrained warrior so naturally the most skilled warriors train diligently to overcome it. The tail also provides a Saiyan with a great power: when exposed to the Blutz Waves of a planet's full moon they can transform into a Great Ape of tremendous destructive power. Removing the tail will prevent the transformative abilities, though it is possible for the tail to grown back under certain conditions.

Saiyans posses a singularly powerful ability that aids them in becoming great warriors: when injured in battle or after trauma sustained in training or battle a recovering Saiyan will emerge from the injuries with even greater strength. It is explained that Saiyan physiology rapidly adapts to the injury and alters the body to withstand such punishment in the future. Saiyans recover at an accelerated rate, but increasing the rate of recovery through technological or mystical means in no way dampens their body's ability to increase in strength.