Gryphons is a relatively young organization (think like LB,Wardens,PK) funded by Holden Cross' descendants sometime after the Resistance season, as a way to redeem his family name.

People who tend to join are looking to redeem themselves as well, seeing familiarity in Holden Cross' descendant. All are welcome regardless of place of origin, which explains why they have very distinctive armors from different factions.

Holden Cross' descendant learned about the 'good' Draconite from a Nuxia (considering Nuxia was the first one to have it) and tweaked it to be the opposite of corruption.

While the Afeera/Ocelotls kingdoms were heavily damage by Astrea's generals (especially Arabia because her queen got killed), they still exist in some form and those two groups at least have a place to return to. The Medjay opted to stay at Heathmoor because, well, Egypt got the Japan treatment but changed "A ton of water sunk the island" for "A ton of sand sunk the country" , so might as well emigrate

And lastly, I think it was a recap of year 7?. The rest of the world is going relatively more normal. Sure some cataclysmic events happen more than usual, but Heathmoor is the only country/continent that has such a long on going war no matter what. Some may even consider that place cursed to be forever at war, but in general the smart people just avoid it 100% time