Sir Thomas Wingate / Thomas Wingate II

The information below is a mix of known information, hidden tales, rumours and deep seated family secrets. I have done my best to mark what may or may not be known to someone, depending on who they are and how much about Thomas they wish to know, and how deep they want to dig.

Though this is far from the complete collection of adventures Sir Thomas went on, and those recorded are very much stripped down versions of the stories. I feel the ones I included are those that had the biggest influence on his life.

Very much a work in progress, and i will eventually do a spellcheck too!

=• Thomas Wingate - The Beginning (Public Knowledge) •= Taken from the public diary of Sir Thomas Wingate - I was born in York in 1904 to Matthew and Gabriella Wingate. An only child born into a family made wealthy under suspicious circumstance. My father was part of the British Raj occupation of the Indian empire, leaving a poor, low end officer and coming back a hugely wealthy man. Mother never asked, and nor did I.

During my youth I lived in York, going to The Minister private school until the age of 10, then leaving schooled education at the start of the First World War to move to an estate in Scotland just south of Loch Katrine, which my father had bought, had restored and renamed to Wingate Manor.

Being decorated in the Raj, my father, despite his wealth, was again called up to fight for his country, returning to India in late 1914. I am not sure which scared him more; the war or going back to the country he ‘acquired’ his wealth. Sadly this time he did not return. The report we received on August 7th, 1917, said he and his men were lost when on an apparent secret mission in the Sahyādri mountain range.

The loss destroyed my mother, and she fell desperately ill, bedridden with sadness, and with no will to live. At only 13, I was too young to understand this at the time, and I felt betrayed by my mother, as if my love wasn’t enough for her. Though 3 years later at the age of manhood and when I became the sole heir to the Wingate fortune, I had long since made up my mind that if I could make her proud, as proud of me as she had been of father, then she would come out of her near lifeless state and become the vibrant beautiful woman I remembered.

Now my father had always loved archaeology and mythology according to mother. But when he came back from India he positively obsessed over it, and had built up a quite extensive and spectacular library in Wingate Manor. He has passed this love onto me, and whilst some children were being told stories made famous by the brothers Grimm, my father would be sat explaining the history, mythology and the potential truth of those same tales.

TW - Written late 1994

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=• Howard Carter's Influence(Hard to Find Knowledge) •=

When he left home to explore for the first time, it was 1920 and Thomas was 16. He was aware that WW1 had disrupted a number of archaelogical digs in northern Africa, and he was determined to find and speak to Howard Carter, who had returned to his work in Egypt.

He made a donation to the work fund, and managed to spend a few months working with Carter, gaining a great insight into the work he did, both on, before and after a dig. He took that information and travelled down into Africa to visit laces he had only ever read about, before moving back to Scotland.

The influence of Carter made Thomas go to university, where he studied Archaeology and Mythology and gained his degrees from Edinburgh university in a very short time.

It was the influence from Carter that gave Thomas the knowledge and confidence to start The Wingate Foundation, but it took a life changing event to move Thomas from the path he was on, to the path he would eventually travel.

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=• The Black Lantern (OOC only) •= TEXT GOES HERE

=• The Foundation is born (Public Knowledge) •=

In the winter of 1926, The Wingate Foundation was registered. At that time, the foundation was created as a resource to help fund archaeological expeditions. In exchange for providing the financial backing, the Foundation reserved the right to claim a percentage of any profits made by the sale of the finds to make back the money it had invested. Through numerous expeditions that were ran through the Foundation, it was less than a year before the Foundation began to take a more active role in the discovery of ancient histories, and it began to not only fund successful applicants, but also to send out its own teams around the planet. The Foundations head, Thomas Wingate, was himself fascinated with history, especially ancient myths and superstitions and quite often visited various excavation sites to make sure that everything was proceeding well.

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=• The rescue of Martha Lloyd (OOC only) •= TEXT GOES HERE

=• Arise, Sir Thomas (Public Knowledge) •=

Following the rescue of the daughter of Howard Lloyd, an immensely influential person and friend of the King, Thomas Wingate was honoured at Buckingham Palace and was awarded a KBE, the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and was knighted Sir Thomas Wingate for his bravery and selflessness in his rescue of Martha Lloyd.

John Atkins was also called to be knighted, but he declined the honour, apparently stating he was just doing his job. A line which apparently amused the king and gained his respect.

The details of the rescue have always been questionable. But it is understood that Martha was kidnapped during a trip to Brazil to visit the rainforrests, and she was held captive by some kind of tribal order. This order executed most of Martha's contingent, apparently to one or another of their heathen gods. Martha was next when Thomas, Atkins and the few men that had survived thier own ordeal managed to break through the line of savages and rescue them, escaping to their waiting aquaplane.

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=• Molly (Hard to Find Knowledge) •=

In January 1936, an eminent musician by the name of Gerard Walton was kidnapped. The kidnap was rumoured to have been by Nazi extremists, however the reasons are somewhat unclear. Some believe that it was becasue of the mans religeous beliefs, though he was a Cristian. Some believed he worked for American intelligence and Hitler wanted him to tryn and guage Amaerica's interest in the brewing war in Europe. Some of the more outlandish ideas included that he owned an ancient heirloom said to have mystical powers, an heirloom kept in the New York Museum of Natural History, and Hitlers occult forces wanted it.

A burlesque dancer / stripper named Molly Walton, niece of the kidnapped musician, had given up on the police. Remembering a story she had read about in England about two men leading a trip into South America to rescue a kidnapped member of English dignatry, she contacted one of the men, John Atkins, a private investigator, to see if he could help her.

Both Mr Atkins and, it's believed, Thomas, now Sir Thomas Wingate, went to the states to try and help the young lady.

Little is known about the details of this trip, as the reports that were filed by all parties were woefully lacking in information.

What was confirmed was that there was a gunfight in the New York Museum after almost 2 weeks of Mr Atkins and Sir Wingates arrival. A number of bodies were recovered, though their identification was impossible to confirm due to most of them being badly burnt. This in itself is a mystery, as there was no fire in the museum that night.

Gerard Walton was freed, and claimed to have never seen his assailants, having been blindfolded all the time. Mr Atkins said in his official report that the various leads of investigation he had looked into had all led towards the museum, so it had seemed the logical place to check out properly. When asked why he had decided to make the visit without going through the proper chanels and in the middle of the night, Mr Atkins became a little disrespectful to the police officer he was reporting too, stating that any 'proper channels' would have taken weeks, and even if Walton had still been there and been alive, the kidnappers would have been tipped off. And the resons for the middle of the night, were, and i quote, "because there was gunplay, violence and danger. the last thing i wanted was the public around, you bloody idiot."

Despite a number of interviews, Sir Thomas Wingate never admitted to being involved in the situation, and there was never any proof he was involved.

Two weeks later Sir Thomas Wingate and Molly Walton got married.

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=• Thomas and the Templars (Known to very high ranking Templars only) •=

It was 1939 and the Second World War was underway. Unknown to Thomas, a couple of his most recent digs which resulted in him obtaining items for his own personal collection had been observed and recorded by the order of the Templars.

The Templars, finding out about Thomas' father dieing during the first world war, offered Thomas a deal; that if he joined them, he would not be taken from his family and sent to war. Thomas, already feering being called up to national service despite his wealth and position, quickly agreed.

The Templars has asked Thomas to join them for a very specific reason. Since the mid to late 1930s, it was rumoured that Adolf Hitler, a man obsessed with the supernatural, had begun to collect items with potential supernatural power. In 1938 in South Eastern Gemrany, near the Autrian border, there was an attack on a German shipment, apparently containing the finds from a recent Archaelogical dig from an unknown location. Though there was quite a lot of destruction, there had only been a single piece missing. Apparently furious, Hitler has put a price on the head of the two men repsonsible.

The Templars found those two men were one Sir Thomas Wingate, and one John Atkins, based on infrmation they obtained from an agent working for them from within the German high command.

From this, and the other other evidence the Templars had managed to piece together, they believed Thomas has experience and ability in capturing items of significance, and wished him to continue this work with the Templars, specifically to stop Hitler gaining any items with supernatural power.

Thomas agreed, apparently quite enthisuastic as his days in the field had been drastically reduced since the birth of his first and second children, and he began work with a task force within the Templars to work against Hitlers supernatural devision. At Thomas Wingates request, Mr John Atkins was brought into the fold.

The team worked with a high level of success, with Thomas and Mr Atkins leading raids and expeditions personally through 1940 to Novemeber 5th 1943. It was on this date, according to reports, Hitler seemed to have succeeded in activating an artefact of devastating power. John Atkins sacrificed himself to prevent the items full activation and to save the lives of a number of other expedition members, including that of Sir Thomas Wingate. For this act, John Atkins was awarded a Victoria Cross post-humously.

It was following this tragedy that Thomas' work for the Templars faulted. He cited personal reasons; not only the loss of his best friend, but also the amount of time he had spent away from his family, something, he argued, he'd expected to avoid when joining the Templars.

Additional pressure from other areas meant that this particular issue was not pushed by the Templars, and Thomas went back to his familly.

In 1946 during the aftermath of WW2, the Templars called upon Thomas to donate a sizeable sum of money to the Templars as part of the work they were doing to rebuild England, and also requested he organise and lead a number of trips into numerous Nazi strongholds to try and recover any items that he may find. Thomas, already doing work with his wifes charity foundation, was appauled and disgusted at the requests being made of him, and refused. One of the rumours of the incident stated that Sir Thomas Wingate, infuriated at the request being made, nearly knocked out the member of the Orders Council that had spoken to him. Thomas was heard to have yelled that "the next Templar who speaks to me or any of my family i will hunt down and destroy."

Though never officially removed from the Templar order, for reasons known only to the high council, Thomas never returned to the Templars home in London. Even though his decendants have unnofically been members of the Templar order because of their bloodline, the animisity and distrust between the Wingate family and the Templar order was never resolved and is still in place today, with the current head of the foudation, Thomas Wingate II hating the order almost as much as his Great Grandfather did.

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=• Retirement and the Death of Molly Wingate (Public Knowledge) •=

In 1965 the Foundation was passed on. Thomas gave it to his oldest son, Gabriel, and officially retired, despite being inactive in the field since around 1950.

Thomas and Molly spent the next 15 years travelling the world. Thomas, 61 at the time, was said to have been trying to show Molly all the wonders the world had to offer while they were still young enough to enjoy them.

This 15 year holiday ended when Thomas and his wife returned to England following Molly being diagnosed with cancer.

The cancer was initially controlled by medication, the best the world could offer, but almost 18 months after the initial diagnosis, the cancer flared into destructive life, and Molly Wingate died in June 1982, aged 68.

Thomas had offered to take her to her family home in America to pass away, but she has said her home was in Scotland, near the manor she had raised her family in, and had refused to be moved before her death.

She was buried in the family plot, on the grounds of Wingate Manor.

Thomas, aged 77, appeared to be accepting of the loss and it was said didnt cry at her funeral. Howver, it was believed at some pont after Mollys death, Thomas suffered a serious stroke, leaving his mind in a delicate state, rambling on about his mortality and the proverbial fountain of youth.

This was always strongly denied by the family, up to and beyond Thomas' death in 1994

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=• Once More, For Old Times Sakes (OOC Only) •=

Following the death of his wife, Thomas' mind fell to the ravages of age. He lost focus and clarity, often losing himself for days at a time. His family beleived the stress of losing Molly had caused a stroke, and that this had affected him mind.

This lasted for a long time, but then Thomas seemed to slip back to not only clarity, but the single minded obessive behaviour he had shown in the past, a behaviour that had almost lost him the woman he grieved over decades before.

He refused to speak to anyone about what he was doing, but for the first time in over 30 years he returned to the Templars to use their library; one of the biggest collections of supernatural literature in the world, (but with one or two volumes missing, which Thomas took a great deal of satisfaction in owning.)

After almost a year of relentless hunting, Thomas left the Templar library never to return. Walking with a new determination, he decided he had one more expedition to organise.

Deciding to do this one seperate of the foundation, Thomas looked for a number of independant archaelogical groups and through a series of meetings with them, he set up three teams, each independant and unaware of the others. He sent them to search for three seemingly seperate items; a set of small metallic lightening bolts, an ancient text and a ceremonial staff. All items were from the Babylonian period. Thomas was aware that without any one of these items, his plan would fail. The year was 1986 and Thomas was 82.

It took 8 years to complete. each year Thomas' determination and trademark stubborness growing stronger, but his physical health rapidly declining. But in 1994, All the items were in place and Thomas reassembled an item he had seen in a historical tome in the Templar library. the book was almost 2000 years old, and it spoke of a staff held by Gilgamesh, a man who was king of Uruk for, according to the legend, 126 years. On top of this, he was supposed to have the powers of a demigod. Though the power held no interest for Thomas, the lure of life did. the chance to try it all again. the chance to avoid his light going out as Mollys had.

Christmas day 1994, aged 91, Sir Thomas Wingate completed the ritual to activate the staff of Gilgamesh.

He was buried in a tomb he had had specially created for himself 01/01/1995

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=• The Death of Sir Thomas Wingate (Public Knowledge) •=

It was reported that Sir Thomas Wingate, founder of The Wingate Foundation, passed away on the 25th of December, 1994, aged 91 years. He is said to have passed of natural causes, and will be buried alongside his wife in the family vault, on the grounds of his home, Wingate Manor.

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=• The Birth of Thomas Wingate II (OOC Only) •=

In May 2004, Thomas awoke in his tomb. He had had it made so he could breath, and that he could escape should the staff work and he never truely died.

Pressing the alarm, the few members of the family who knew of this came to the tomb and helped Thomas. Thomas was heavilly emaciated, malnourished and dangerously thin, with little to no muscle remaining beyond the bare minimum.

He spent a year in effectively a self contained hospital in the manor. he built his body back from practically nothing to that of a strong, fit man in his 20s, through diet, nutritional drips and constant physiotherapy, eventually leading to martial arts and weight training.

It took 2 years before he was considered healthy, from a medical standpoint. and before he could be trusted, health wise, to travel on his own. During these first trips away, he spent a year in the south seas on a private boat, recuperating in the sun and healthy environment, and to allow him to learn what he has missed and forgotton over the last 20 years. It was here he learnt alove for diving, climbing, caving and any combination of those.

Returning in 2009, the plans for the future of the foundation were agreed upon. Thomas decided to work for the foundation to see how it was running. satisfied in its current incarnation, he headed to London to find work there.

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=• The Finding of the Heir (Public Knowledge) •=

In 1978 there was a child born out of wedlock to the Wingate family. The childs father was unknown. Sadly, his mother, Julianna Wingate-Thompson died during childbirth, and it was believed that so did the child. This was a devastating personal tradgedy to a family who were renowned for their closeness.

Jumping forward to May 2007, a young man visited Wingate Manor, telling them that he had managed to find adoption details, saying he believed he was the missing child, not dead at all. It is said that Julianna didnt want the child to be brought up within the Wingate family, for reasons unknown.

The Wingates had had such a thing happen in the past, as the families wealth was well documented and a number of people had tried to gain access to the family for financial gain ever since the rumours of a missing Wingate child began.

Extensive blood work and DNA testing, however, proved that this young man was indeed one of the Wingate family, a direct relation to the brothers Anthony and Vincent, making them his younger cousins. He also had more DNA in common with Sir Thomas. He was brought into the family with open arms.

His adopted name was Shaw Faolan. A family tall tale goes, however, that one of the old maids had seen him, and after commenting how much he looked like Sir Thomas, refused to call him anything but "Little Tommy". Though this initially bothered Anthony, due to be the next lord of Wingate Manor when he turned 25, he soon warmed to the idea, and when Shaw was renamed as part of the family, he took the name Thomas Wingate II

Though Thomas, the eldest of the three males, was technically now next in line to be the lord of the manor, he quickly made it known this was not the case, and he was just happy to be a part of such a wonderful family.

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=• The Modern Wingate Foundation; Its Fall and Continued Rise (Public Knowledge) •=

The Wingate Foundation… the Public Face.

Excerpt taken from “The Wingate Foundation – A History” by Dr Lesley Masters

Since its creation, the Foundation has been passed down from family member to family member, each one adding their own touch to the Foundation and the work it does, but always working to keep the Foundation discovering and promoting the wonders of the ancient world.

Through a number of incarnations, todays Foundation has been geared towards education, both of the public and of those people wishing to take archaeology as a future career. The Wingate Foundation of the 21st century channels its resources into the discovery and investigation of archaeological sites still as yet undiscovered. Upon the discovery of such sites, teams from the Foundation make them secure and safe, allowing archaeology students to work on a real dig; experiencing the thrill and suffer the disappointment known to all those to whom this is already a way of life.

A non-profit organisation, the Wingate Foundation reserves the right to display these findings at a number of public and private museums around the globe, using this revenue to finance the future.

The Wingate Foundation… The Fall From Grace.

In 2012 there was an incident at a site run and secured by the Wingate Foundation in the Middle East. Due to legal reasons, the details of this tragedy are not allowed to be revealed. However, what can be said is that due to negligence on behalf of the Foundation, there was at least one student death, and a number of injuries in what in one local newspaper reported as a “large rolling ball of fire swept through the excavation site*”

Following from this incident, the CEO of the Wingate Foundation, Anthony Wingate, immediately resigned and has since disappeared from the public eye. In his place, he left a familiar name in charge. Thomas Wingate.

The Wingate Foundation… Rising from the Ashes

This Thomas Wingate, great grandson of the founder, ensured swift work on behalf of the Foundations lawyers to end the law suits and to compensate the families for the losses as best they could.

In what some parties considered a somewhat heartless move, the new CEO almost immediately began to reshape the company again. Keeping with the educational aspect, the CEO, at this time, has been in talks with various educational boards to have work done on a Wingate Foundation certified dig count as credits towards the students final grade; a move that if successful would immediately make the work done by the Foundation far more attractive to both student and universities.

In December of 2012, following the Foundations move from its historical home in Scotland, down to London; it was officially announced that as well as the continuing educational work, Thomas Wingate II decided it would be beneficial for the Foundation to, rather than provide the information to other parties, create its own archaeological team to investigate and excavate sites deemed too dangerous for students.

Though the education side of the company has recovered well so far, and once again well-staffed thanks to the continued employment issues in the UK, Thomas Wingate II is said to be looking for a much more specialised group for the private work the Foundation intends to undertake. People with experience in field work archaeology, in exploration, and those with an advanced education and or knowledge of history, archaeology and mythology.

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=• Thomas Wingate II; The Here and Now •=

Now the head of the Wingate Foundation, which seems to be back on track. Thomas II seems to be thriving in his current position.

A reporter for a well known newspaper had hinted there were some photographs of Thomas with a beautiful dark haired woman, the identification of whom is unknown, suggesting he was in a relationship. It has now been confirmed that if this was ever true, it is no longer, and Thomas is single.

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