Hi, I think I can explain.
The choice to add the Special lines to the Gate Pass feats, as a logical consequence of the text on page 6 (column 2, paragraph 2 after the headings), was made by me during layout. Ryan's been very lenient in letting me make these kinds of minor edits when I'm composing pages, but he always carefully reviews the final product to make sure I haven't overstepped my bounds.
However, *please* don't read the word "affiliated" as meaning anything more than "committed to," "allied with," or "acquainted with" (depending on the level of attachment that you as DM decide is needed to grant one of these feats as a bonus). Recall that "War of the Burning Sky" is a series of d20 products, not "D&D" products; recall also that that "affiliation" stuff from the PHBII is not Open Game Content. So by extension, the products don't refer to or incorporate PHBII material.
Of course, if an individual DM should *want* to set up the listed Gate Pass organizations with affiliation scores, benefits, and so forth from the PHBII, that's certainly a logical extension of the story framework provided in the Players' Guide... home games certainly aren't constrained by OGC after all. Said DM might want to have at least adventure #1 in hand before deciding how much work to put into it, but as with any game prep, if it looks like it'll be worthwhile come play time then I'd say go for it.
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