Inversionists

In the airborne world of Luftreich, there is no gravity; hence a ball cannot be expected to fall “down” when dropped. Because of this, the concepts of up and down are defined differently than on Earth.
Instead, the notions of up and down are respective to the direction from which the light comes. By 2 years of age, children instinctively know that “up” is the direction towards the dark and watery realms, and that “down” is the direction from which all heat and light originate. So says the conventional wisdom…
Inversionists dispute this claim. They argue, often vehemently, that “up” is the source of heat and light, and “down” is towards the darkness. To an outsider, this may seem like a silly semantic quarrel. Even many inhabitants of Luftreich find these discussions tedious. However, this dismissive attitude, though convenient for the privileged upper classes, ignores what is arguably the most important intellectual dispute of the modern era. The inversionist movement reflects several critical linguistic, ethnic, and even philosophical tensions within Luftreich society.
On the simplest level, the disagreement stems from the inherent values conferred by the words “up” and “down”. E.g. the “upper class” are the most powerful, and one who “aims high” is more respected that one who “aims low”. As such, from a purely linguistic (though somewhat subjective) inversionist argument, the light represents warmth and safety, thus it is more fitting to call the direction of light “up” and the direction of dark “down”.
Both sides can selectively cite historical precedents to back up their claims. Before the Central Realm was forcibly consolidated two centuries ago under the Allied Empire, conventions of up and down varied widely across the tribes inhabiting this region. For many northern tribes, the Origin of Light was and still is their one and only deity, making it only natural for “up” to be oriented towards this divine light. But as these tribes were conquered during the Imperial Offensive, any monuments and buildings with a natural polarity were soon flipped over to realign them with the Empire’s notion of up and down. Most inhabitants of the northern region simply accepted these changes, which had little apparent impact on everyday life, but some religious intellectuals began producing secular treatises calling for the restoration of the old order. Many of these early writers were still heavily driven by religious fervor, but others embraced this nascent inversionist movement primarily as a means to assert their autonomy from the new imperial rule. Inversionists today still draw inspiration from the writings of these northern intellectuals, who are now considered the founders of modern inversionism.
Although inversionism originated in this way as an ideological movement within the intellectual upper-middle classes, inversionist beliefs are now more prevalent in the lower social strata of society. Within ethnic groups, the lower classes live in physically lower spaces, which are not only less comfortable due to the often-stifling daytime heat, but also symbolize their lower social status. The upper classes, by contrast, live literally higher up, closer to the waters of the heavens, in which the deities reside. Indeed, the existence of the imperially recognized deities within this “higher realm” is the most common philosophical argument put forth by defenders of the status quo, while those living in the lower quarters champion the assertions of inversionism as symbolic assertions of their own societal worth.
In addition to the lower classes, an increasing number of young people across all classes of society have recently become inversionists as a rebellious trend, with varying levels of actual understanding of the movement’s origins. Some are astonishingly well-versed in early inversionist philosophy; others seem to have embraced inversionism merely as an excuse to sneak out at night and stir up trouble, flipping over public property.
Outspoken inversionists are easy to spot in crowds since they will of course appear upside down relative to everyone else present. Perhaps for this reason, they often tend to self-segregate within public spaces and events.