Convention
A Convention is a group of scientifically-oriented Awakened "mages" allied with the Order of Reason (1325-1851) or the Technocratic Union (1851-2004). That is, they believe that they use Enlightened Science rather than magic, and this Science is manipulated to create desired effects. This contrasts with mystically-oriented mages, who believe in magic and understand that they manipulate magic to create desired effects. The Conventions' counterparts among the mages of the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions are called Traditions. Although the Order of Reason did not technically exist until 1325, many Conventions count their origins to much earlier periods. Iteration X, for example, claims the first humans who invented the wheel and discovered fire as their own "ancestors."
Conventions
To date, roughly eleven organizations have been counted as Conventions. The following list only counts their membership within the Order and Union, not as separate organizations.
Order of Reason
Artificers (1325 - 1851)
Cabal of Pure Thought (1325 - late 1830s)
Celestial Masters (1325 - 1851)
Cosian Circle (1325 - 1851)
Craftmasons (1325 - 1670)
Difference Engineers (1823 - 1851)
High Guild (1325 - 1851)
Ksirafai (1336 - 1716)
Solificati (1325 - 1335)
Void Seekers (1325 - 1851)
Voltarian Order (1806 - 1851)
Technocratic Union
While there have been several Conventions within the Union, the number of names may be misleading. All of the Order of Reason Conventions which exist in 1851 are overhauled as part of the new Union; thus, while they are technically new Conventions, their goals and membership are largely the same. The Union's Conventions once again rename themselves in roughly 1897, further confusing the issue.
Æsculpian Order (formerly Hippocratic Circle) (1851 - c.1897)
Analytical Reckoners (formerly Difference Engineers) (1851 - c.1897)
Electrodyne Engineers (formerly Voltarian Order) (1851 - 1904)
Explorators (formerly Celestial Masters and Void Seekers) (1851 - c.1897)
International Brotherhood of Mechanicians (formerly Artificers) (1851 - c.1897)
Iteration X (former Mechanists) (c.1897- 2004)
Invisible Exchequer (formerly High Guild) (1851 - c.1897)
Lightkeepers (formerly Cabal of Pure Thought) (1851 - c.1897)
New World Order (former Lightkeepers) (c.1897 - 2004)
Progenitors (former Æsculpian Order) (c.1897 - 2004)
Syndicate (former Invisible Exchequer) (c.1897 - 2004)
Virtual Adepts (former Analytical Reckoners) (c.1897 - 1956)
Void Engineers (former Explorators) (c.1897 - 2004)
There have therefore been either seven or thirteen Conventions within the Union, depending on your point of view.
