Can you answer these questions, please:
1) Did you leave in good standing? You didn't owe any $, for example.
2) Have you contacted your HQ to see what your status is? If you are considered an alumna, do you really want to become active again?
3) Why can't you think of being in school without being part of Greek life? Seriously, there are thousands and thousands of students who are in school without Greek membership. What is it you're seeking?
As for your question about starting a local: you can do whatever you want with a local, but as for you turning a local into another NPC sorority and you being a member of the new NPC sorority - nope, not gonna happen. I'm not even going to go into the whole "extension" speech. You can search for information on extension and how lengthy the process is, timewise.
Yes there are plenty of non-NPC national/international groups. Do the research.
As for sisterhood going down the drain, and your statement about what your sorority "used to represent": news flash. It's the same sorority, same values, same creed/whatever. If you feel like you're far away from them, who moved? They were there, they went on with their lives while you were out of school for a year. This isn't unusual or out of the ordinary. You can't expect young women who are in school to "be there" for someone who is no longer on campus. Is your expectation a reasonable one? Think about it.
ETA:
Wait a second. SMH. Thanks for QFPs. Sheesh.