I always thought the word usage in The Sable Quean was interesting. Why? Because I noticed that the word that was used was "quean", rather than "queen". I looked up the definition for the word "quean" and this is what I got:
quean
kwēn
noun archaic
an impudent or ill-behaved girl or woman.
and
a disreputable woman
I think it's interesting that Brian substituted this word for the more common "queen" and it probably says something about Vilaya's character.
The choice of name is also interesting to me. Brian often used clever devices with names (such as Verdauga Greeneyes, which translates to Greeneyes Greeneyes), so I don't think that the fact that Vilaya sounds similar to the word "villain" is a coincidence.
If we look at these two things it seems like Brian wanted us to know from the very start that Vilaya was a bad character.
What do you think? It's been forever since I read The Sable Quean, so I remember very little about it. :P
I think I read that Brian named Cluny Cluny because it rhymed with "loony", and Cluny sure wasn't sane.
And Tsarmina--because "tsar" (ruler) and "mean" (she's evil).
His names are for sure intentional.