The answer to this question is likely obvious, but I'm curious anyway: What exactly is the significance of the "Independent" keyword? Characters like the Guardian Elder Thing and the Hound of Tindalos are Independent, despite belonging to the Yog-Sothoth faction. If they are beholden to the will of Yog-Sothoth, they can't be independent in the sense that they are their own authority, can they?

Independent has no effect of it's own. Other cards could reference things that are independent. (nothing comes to mind though).

Or, any card that allows you to specifiy a keyword (such as "name a type, raise the cost to play cards of type by 4 until the end of the turn") could name independent.

note: I'm probably mixing up the terms: keywords, traits, types, etc. I do it a lot. But that's the general idea.

9 CCG Independents, 3 reprinted to core, none reprinted to Arkham Expansion, 12 LCG AP Independents. No card specifically targets subtype Independent, but the Rope and Anchor Tavern could be part of a quixotic independent deck. It is a classic flavorful subtype though. Cthoniens and Shamblers do their own thing.

MarthWMaster said:

It's not a keyword, it's a subtype.

Being in a faction means you have some connection to it, wether very strong or very weak. Independant characters have a relative loose connection, usually going their own merry way but sometimes getting attracted to faction interests out of their own interests.Factional organisation isn't very well defined. Even within factions there could be conflicting goals. You might have seen Hastur cultist in conflict, or Deep Ones fighting... It usually means little more than characters sharing a certain 'theme' - they sometimes just know the same people/fellow monsters and share part of the information flow.

Marius said:

Thank you!

Everyone else: Sorry I wasn't clear. I was strictly concerned with the subtype's meaning in terms of flavor, not with how it interacted with the game itself.