[zarlor]

Don't get me started on conditional bootstrapping! Suffice to say there is not such thing, at least not directly. You kind of have to approach it from the side or otherwise just apply the effects of whatever it was you wanted to bootstrap. Your approach of giving it as a base to everyone probably works best, just maybe set it with 0 power points or something. You could try to use a containerreq to hide the AB unless Knowledge (Mythos) is taken, though. Which might work but I find containerreqs to be fairly temperamental and only work in certain instances, but not others. You might check out the Deadlands Noir file, though, and see if how the Dominion Trait is hidden in that file might work for this method if a direct containerreq doesn't.

For applying a permanent effect from a bootstrapped item, though... I'd have to play around with that to see what would work. Let me see if I can find something tomorrow or maybe JBear or someone else will have some ideas or a chance to play with it before I do.