Have you been wondering why so many post-canon Temeraire fics call Tharkay's Mysterious Scottish Estate Strathvagan?
Well, it's my fault. Canon is ambiguous about whether the location of Tharkay's estate is in England’s Peak District or in Scotland but, since I'm Scottish, my headcanon is the latter. I put it relatively close to the English border: in Ayrshire (I like a pun, so where else would an aviator live—plus it gives Tharkay and Laurence a nearby shoreline for romantic walks or endless wistful pining).
And because of my love of puns, I called it Strathvagan. "Strath-" is a Gaelic place name element meaning valley, seen in names like Strathclyde. Its pronunciation is sometimes elided: Strathaven is pronounced "stray-ven".
So ... in my head at least, Strathvagan is pronounced "stra-vaygan". And "stravaigin" is an old Scots word for "roaming, wandering around."
So there you go. Strathvagan exists largely because of my desire to have Tharkay be called, basically, "Lord Wanderer".
(And anyone who likes is welcome to use it! I get a little shiver of delight whenever it pops up in someone else’s fic!)
