The Order of Reason is going through the pains of transformation as it shifts its focus from the spread of the scientific paradigm, to its enforcement and elaboration. Slowly, all of the conventions are moving away from the hands-on aspects of their fields towards research, engineering, and theoretical speculation. Further, they have officially shed their religious precepts, becoming a fully secular organization based on the philosophy of Utilitarianism. Not that there aren't members who are still religious, there are. It is just no longer a part of the Order itself.
Thus far in its history, the Order has shed two of its original members, had one defect, and formed two new ones. The first pair are the Craftmasons and the Cabal of Pure Thought and it is the ghosts of these two conventions which currently advise the reactionary and conservative faction. The former represents the humanitarian ideals which many members of the current Order feel are being left behind under the influence of Utilitarianism (which has a marked tendency to overlook suffering if it serves a mathematical mean called 'the common good') and the latter represents the Order's lost faith. The Solficati are the only defectors thus far, but they left early enough in the history of the Order that few remember them and their mark on the organization is minimal. The last pair are the Ivory Tower and the Electrodyne Engineers and it is these two conventions which best represent the future of the Order.
The Scientific Paradigm itself is moving along at a breakneck pace. Fueled by the runaway train of industrialization and the success of the Royal Society and its sister organizations, there is a feeling in Victorian society that science and reason have the capacity to solve all of humanity's ills. It has finally reached the point where even its detractors don't question its precepts, fighting against what they see wrong with modern society using the same tools which produced it. The spread of the British Empire has helped to bring science to the far corners of the globe, leaving only a few distant and isolated lands without the guidance of the Order of Reason.
In London itself, one of the most powerful Synposiums watches over and guides the Royal Society and Masons along the path set by the Inner Circle, while itself being the stage of a struggle for control of the Order itself as each covenant tries to get the upper hand. One side is driven by a vision of the future, another by sheer survival and a nostalgia for the past.