The touch of a dissociate is filled with vile energy. A dissociate's feelings then empower the touch to alter the emotions of those they touch, if they so choose. A dissciate can wield only negative emotions to cause a target to dissociate, and she can decide the manner of dissociation: dissociative identity, derealization, depersonalization, catatonia, fugue state, daydreaming, conversion disorder, amnesia or repressed memory, numbing, disengagement, dissociative seizure, paracosm, or out of body experiences.

The more skin-to-skin contact a dissociate has with someone, the more powerful the dissociation they can convey. Thus, a full body embrace is more powerful than a brief handshake. However, this is balanced against the emotions the disscociate is feeling and how strongly.

Positive emotions make a dissociate unable to affect others. This developed as a protection against those whom the dissociate cares for.

Dissociates live in small villages in deep rain forests where they survive by taking slaves (whom they keep disoriented) from surrounding societies and hunting and foraging. Their communities are ruled by high priestesses or hunter- or warrior-councils that have the most access to slaves and other resources. Children are raised by slaves and educated by the priestess circle in the village, often taught the arts of manipulation, gaslighting, and verbal abuse at young ages.

As a dissociate grows up, she is trained in a specific field that will serve the village, usually determined by her mother. Common roles include hunter, warrior, slave-catcher, priestess, herbalist, weaver, builder, and slave-tender. Each village has a strict hierarchy on who is the leader of the useful crafts, and the leader of each craft selects those who will train the younger dissociates, whom also serve her. If a dissociate leaves her village, she is usually taken slave by another village. Dissociates are taught from a young age that other societies will enslave them as sex slaves. When a dissociate finds out this is untrue, it is usually long, traumatic process.

Muses who are corrupted by vile energy and turned into dissociates usually end up enslaved in dissociate society unless they manipulate their way to the top.