The dragonballs are seven magical balls created by the Namek descendants of the Dragon Family (I swear I heard that somewhere). If all seven balls in the set are collected you can summon the Eternal Dragon, who grants a wish(es) depending on how powerful the dragon is, as well as the strength of the balls themselves. The power of the dragon is determined by the strength of each dragonball.

Each ball has a yellowish-orange color to it, and they are labeled with consecutively numbered red stars inside (ball #1 has 1 star, ball #2 has 2 stars, etc...). However, there are also black-star dragonballs (or "Ultimate Dragonballs"). These balls follow the same standards and premises, however they are scattered across the entire universe! Thus, they are much more difficult to find than the regular balls. They are the most powerful balls and have the most wishing power, but they are concerned primarily in Dragonball GT.

On Earth, a Namek called Kami created a set of dragonballs upon his arrival from Namek. When the Earth balls are brought together, a special phrase ("Come forth Eternal Dragon and grant my wish/heed my voice, make this wish come true!" -something like that) must be spoken in order for the Earth dragon, Shenlon, to appear. After summoning Shenlon, any wish can be made only if it doesn't exceed the dragon's power. After the wish, Shenlon vanishes in a flash of light and scatters the balls across the Earth, turning them to stone and leaving them concealed for a year.

Since Namek is the birthplace of the original dragonballs, the Namek balls are more powerful, and a lot bigger. Since they are stronger, the Namek dragon, Porunga, is far more powerful than Shenlon. Porunga can grant up to 3 wishes, as opposed to Shenlon's 1 - apparently, size DOES matter (I made a joke, please laugh). Anyway...they do have similarities. The Namek balls require a special phrase or password much like the Earth balls. However, the phrase must be recited in the Namek tongue, and when Porunga does appear, all 3 wishes must also be spoken in the Namek language. After the wishes are made, the balls are turned to stone and scattered as Porunga vanishes (just like Earth balls). These balls are scattered for 130 days (1 Namek year).

Now there is a downside to being a creator of a set of dragonballs. The balls only work as long as the creator is alive. For instance, Kami must stay alive in order for the Earth dragonballs to exist. There was an instance when Kami died, and the balls disappeared. On Namek, the Eldest Namek named Guru holds power over the balls, and like Kami, if he were to expire, the balls would disappear as well. That also happened during the course of the Frieza Saga. Upon Guru's "official" death, he passed the powers of creating dragonballs on to the next Eldest Namek. When Kami permanently fused with Piccolo, the dragonballs disappeared once again. However, Goku called on Dende to become the new commander of the balls. Dende had to revive the powers of the balls, but in the resurrection process, Dende had the opportunity to revise the Earth balls, and Shenlon's power as well. Dende made the Earth balls have 2 wishes now, and he made it so the dead could be risen more than once. Dende had officially taken Kami's place as Earth's overseer. Pretty cool, eh? That's pretty much the basic idea behind the mystical dragonballs.

What? Evil dragons you say? Yep. It seems as though from each Earth dragonball, an evil dragon escaped. The dragons were created when negative wishes were made with negative powers. Goku had to battle all 7 "Evil Shenlons", and he eventually defeated each one! But that's another epic entirely.