Though the birth of the Technocracy was a continental affair, its greatest victories are being achieved in the British Isles. Since the 17th century, this has been the home to some of the greatest scientists, inventors, and secular thinkers in the world. By the 19th century, it is the Order of Reason's primary base of operations and their control here is greater than anywhere else. However, even as they finally attain the control they've striven for, they are being torn apart by an internal schism between religious holdouts in the old Order of Reason and the secularists of the nascent Technocracy.
Queen Victoria took control of the Order of Reason shortly after her ascension to the throne, and change soon followed. The Cabal of Pure Thought was officially dissolved and a new, secular direction was chosen to match the changes which industrialization wrought on the world. The Utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and his supporters was chosen to replace the outdated Anglican Church and the mysticism of the High Guild and Artificers. In its place, a new organization was formed, dubbed the New World Order, which would focus on social and economic control rather than religious. However, the old religious structure could not just be dissolved, so for a short while, these two organizations are in existence at the same time. The struggle between the old school Cabal and the new Order sets the mood for the conflict throughout the Union.
Internal scisms aside, things are going well for the reinvented Union. They control the government of the largest empire in the world, upon whose flag the sun never sets. Through British colonial interests, they drive out the Craft mages who manipulate their cultures with their magic, replacing them with reliable technology and a unifying religion. Their efforts have led to an end to slavery in most of the world, the widespread availability of goods and medicine, and a general improvement in the standard of living for all under their protection. It would seem that the Order of Reason's dream is quickly becoming a reality.
There are, however, problems with this utopia. Children who once starved on farms now starve in alleyways. Disease which once ravaged townships now spread like wildfire through cities. Even worse, the old religions are creeping back into public consciousness as the Union discovers that secular philosophy takes much longer to ingratiate itself to the Sleepers as religion. There is still much to be done and, amidst all this, there is the question of what direction the new Union will take into the future.