Holy wall of .txt! This is extremely partial but might as well get this going. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the starting point is
...starthere.txt (shocking, I know)
So, let's try to solve the clues:
0) A surficial excuse for discrimination (4) -> race?
1) When I .... about politics you always seem to .... (4/4)
2) Italy relative to Switzerland (2) -> se (southeast)?
2) Way to get loved for quite some time, time, time (4) -> stay (according to Taylor Swift)
3) A letter, best fitting Poseidon (3) -> psi, which looks like a trident
3) Vatican relative to Italy (2) -> in?
The crossword seems to be the one in the centre of the image (the 4x4 with numbers 0-3).
Continuing where pirate and Omega Krypton left off...
For gryphon:
Take the outside letters plus T -> SKYPAWNT (up = SKY, legs = PAWS, sunny = TAN)
Which fits in the bottom left crossword:
For oceanman.txt: You decide to TRAVEL on board of a ship, called after some HOLY person. Suddenly, you get into the storm, and the ship gets wrecked!!! Having drunk lots of SEAWATER, you get onto the seashore alive.
Take the inside letters plus T -> STAALSIT (holy = ST, seawater = SALT, travel = SAIL)
Which fits in the middle left:
You're barely alive. Leave only one from each set of same letters you have (-3).
This leaves ALSIT.