While the Order of Reason struggles through its evolution into the Technocracy and the Traditions struggle to maintain unity and offer them some resistance, the Disparate struggle merely to survive the crossfire. With the great push in exploration and conquest during the last century, there were very few corners of the world untouched by the incursions of either the Order or the Traditions, and in each place the native mages did their best to resist being plowed under.
This state of affairs has produced something of a seige mentality in the Disparate and many of them are viciously hostile to foreign mages. Some even try and take the fight home to their enemies, travelling to Europe and Britian to act as spies, saboteurs, and assassins. This has only served to help justify the attitudes of the European mages, however, who have felt all along that these mysterious foreigners were not to be trusted.
The Templars have existed in the shadows of the Order of Reason since their public disbanding, acting as agents of the Cabal of Pure Thought and persuing their own arcane goals. Since the dissolution of the Gabrielites, however, they have found their ranks swelling more than they have since the crusades with disaffected members of the Order whose strong faith puts them at odds with the current direction of the organization. Currently, the Templars are a small but powerful force behind the Masons, working through those few members of the Cabal which are still active in the Order.
The Taftani are continuing their neverending fight to preserve their flamboyant style of magic and beliefs in the face of the modern world and its religions and science. While they tend to remain in their native lands, it is not unknown for one to come to London on some sort of business, but such events are rare enough to be remarkable, even disregarding the havoc that they usually bring with them wherever they go.
With the current lull in crusades, inquisitions, and witch burnings, the Lions have had time to peacefully persue their studies. As they do not go out seeking conflict, they tend to have little if anything to do with the usual politics and disagreements of their mystical brethren. Keeping to themselves and studing their texts, they are rarely, if ever, encountered by mages of the Order or the Traditions.
Since the Opium Wars, the Wu Lung have been subtly infiltrating the city with their agents and establishing a base of influence. They are particularly embroiled in the opium trade and take a sort of glee in providing English addicts with the same poison they are pumping into China. However, spite is not their only motivation. They are just as desperate to ensure their own survival and that of their culture as any other member of the Disparate. Slowly, China is losing itself under the dominance of its Western oppressors and the Wu Lung are not willing to let this trend continue for much longer.
The Wu Keng rarely leave the Orient and are usually confused with the Wu Lung or Akashics by European mages with little grasp of the philosophical or cultural differences between the various groups. Generally, though, the Wu Keng keep to rural China and plot against their rivals.
Very few of the Hem Ka make their way to England and those that do generally are on a very specific mission for their god. However, there are one or two of these priests in the East End as well, tending to the poor and powerless there as they do at home. Meanwhile, they remain ever vigilant, reporting back to the Kheri hep tep any news which seems relevant. They have also, on a number of occasions, acted as enforcers of so-called 'Mummy's Curses' as a means to disuade future archaeologists and explorers from raping the tombs of their peoples' dead.
These African mages have been almost completely destroyed or assimilated (in the latter case) in the Tradtions. However, a few still hold out in the heart of darkest Africa, still fighting the Europeans and the mages that come with them. Occasionally, one ventures forth to Europe to seek out revenge for the numerous wrongs inflicted upon them and their people.
The Bata'a are currently experiencing the peak of their power in their native lands with the continuing legacy of Marie Laveau and the prevalence of their component faiths among creoles and slaves of the region. Given this, they have little reason to travel anywhere else and most are either disinclined to or are unable to, due to being poor or at least partially still property. However, stories of them still circulate in certain circles in London and the Dreamspeakers have been attempting to court them for a number of years.
The Sisters are not often seen in Britian, preferring the Continent and, more and more frequently, the Americas. The Coven of the Moon had some contact with them back in the days when it was still an independant covenant, but they have lost track of their spiritual sisters, although some say that the Verbena are still trying to recruit the craft whole cloth.
The remains of the Solficati practice their alchemical magic in secret, rarely bringing themselves in contact with other mages and then only briefly to share knowledge and secrets, before disappearing back into their labs. Only the Hermetics are likely to still have any contact with them, and this is still exceptionally rare.
These mages have no contact at all with the British Empire.