Master means Dictator, Ruler, Law-giver, Decision-maker. He may decide to be treated as a King, an Emperor and worshipped as a God, but essentially He has ultimate power to decide what and when and how.
Key skill: decision-making.
Slave means property, subject, servant, tool. The slave consents to being owned by a Dictator, of being treated as property. He consents to being ruled over and obediently and subserviently subjugated to a life of selfless servitude. He understands he is subject to His Master's will and mood and not the other way around (unless there are psychological limitations).
Key skill: selflessness.
There are of course natural limits. For instance, a Master in wielding His absolute power is responsible for His property's well-being. Likewise, a slave should still retain his survival instinct. Nobody's advocating submitting to a caricature of Moamar Gadaffi. This is why finding a slave who truly understands his true calling in life and is willing to enact it and pairing such a slave with a Master who understands His responsibility for His property is vital to a successful outcome.
'Total' in TPE doesn't have to mean the Master and slave go thru every possible item on the entire BDSM menu and spectrum. It's not a competition or a race to fetish heaven. Instead 'total' refers to the automatic nature of a dynamic of command followed by obedience, of law followed by compliance.
The dynamic itself can be intoxicating: the realisation that the slave wants and needs to be treated that way, that the Master wants and expects to be obeyed and worshipped. Then there are the grey areas that arise in pushing a slave to or past his limits, the grey areas between yes and no...
