Oh right, this is your first Jaunt, isn't it? It's my third.

The way it seems to work is that roughly half of us get to keep our memories and sense of selves--as well as the ability to communicate like this mind to mind--while the other half ends up becoming a part of the world. Whether they merge with people already part of the world or the world changes to incorporate them is yet unknown, but however it happens it does happen.

The usually name for them is Infiltrators. They call us Investigators.