When pokemon life first migrated onto the land, Kyogre is said to have tried to drown all the world, and Arceus itself created Groudon to protect the land from the sea. Kyogre has often been viewed as a storm god who still wishes to flood the earth, and therefore as an enemy of man, yet there are many who see a gentler side in this titan.

The peoples of ancient Hoenn, which depended on flooding for the production of rice, saw Kyogre as a god with a ferocious temper who must be appeased, but one who could be a powerful ally when given proper respect and devotion. Yet the inland peoples of Hoenn's mountains paid more heed to Groudon, and those of its coast to Kyogre. They soon joined alliances called Aqua and Magma, and Kyogre's quarrel with Groudon soon spilled over into wars between men.

Initially, the League of Aqua sought the expansion of rivers and rainfall, and therefore an increase in arable land, but centuries of hostility have radicalized them. Today, Team Aqua is often motivated more by faith than reason and shows only the dimmest recognition that man is not an aquatic species; many of its members advocate that people use modern technology to abandon the land, or live only in lagoon cities like Alto Mare or create giant villages of boats.

Why is a god so hostile to the very existence of the continents nonetheless often a friend to man? Team Aqua argues that man is not a true land species, but one which depends on irrigation to eat and lives overwhelmingly along coasts and rivers. Team Magma retorts that man's foolishness is already melting the polar icecaps through the greenhouse effect, and that the industrial revolution offers Kyogre its best chance for victory in eons.