The Minyans were a species of humanoids who encountered the early Time Lords shortly after they had developed time travel. The Minyans association with the Time Lords ended with their planet being destroyed.
Biology
The Minyans physically resembled humans and would normally live less than a hundred years. (TV: Underworld)
Technology
Like the Time Lords, the Minyans could enable themselves an effectively unlimited number of physical regenerations by mechanical means, though it did nothing to alleviate the suffering of body or mind. The crew of the R1C utilised regeneration to survive the length of the journey. By the time they reached the end of their quest, the crew had regenerated a thousand times. Many of the crew had committed suicide by simply letting their bodies wither away and die. Those who went on were always dismayed once the process was finished.
The Minyans also developed the pacification gun, though too late to prevent the war from occurring. (TV: Underworld)
Culture
At one point on their home planet, the Minyans had Heliomancers, which were later cast out. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
History
The Time Lords encountered the Minyans early in their history. The Minyans believed that the Time Lords were gods, and in return, the Time Lord gave them advanced technology, accelerating their development before the Minyans had advanced enough on their own.
R1C, the last Minyan ship. (TV: Underworld)
It was generally believed that the Minyans turned on the Time Lords and forced them off the planet. They made further advancements, such as nuclear power and the toothbrush. Using this nuclear power, they started a nuclear war that destroyed Minyos. (TV: Underworld) In truth, the planet was accidentally destroyed by a Time Lord Timonic Fusion Device. The Time Lords used the civil war as a cover story. (AUDIO: The Inquiry)
Despite the destruction, at least two ships were able to escape the destruction of the planet. The P7E contained a race bank which possessed the genes of the Minyans, which could be used to revitalise the species. The P7E was accidentally trapped in a nebula, making a planet form around it. The R1C had been sent into space to try to find the P7E.
100,000 years after Minyos was destroyed, the Fourth Doctor and Leela encountered R1C, having had little luck with the quest for P7E. With the Doctor's help, the Minyans in the R1C located the descendants of the crew of the P7E, as well as the race banks, and headed for Minyos II, three hundred and seventy years away. (TV: Underworld)
Other references
During the construction of the Hand of Omega, when Rassilon and Omega contemplated imposing an order onto the universe, the other warned them to remember the Minyans. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
As part of a ritual to summon the Chronovore known as Artemis, the Monk used blood from five species affected by the actions of the Time Lords, including that of a Minyan. He had used an exotic, expensive poison to kill the Minyan and obtain the blood. (PROSE: No Future)
Behind the scenes
Many of the names and incidents in Underworld were derived from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. In Greek mythology, the Minyans were the original inhabitants of the Mediterranean. In some versions of the Jason myth, the Argonauts are referred to as "Minyans" because Jason's mother was descended from the Minyans.
