Early in the Godswar, every god but Agares (and Nemed, who had given up his precept of Life to Arawn in order to father the human race and so wasn't a god anymore) began makign angels/demons to serve them, beginning with an archangel. Arawn created two archangels, the twins Basium (Life) and Gyra(Death), as he at the time controlled two spheres. Hyborem was created later on, when Agares used the Black Mirror to bring the dark side of Cernunnos to life. Cernunnos was probably the strongest archangel at the time, and went on to be the weakest of the gods when Sucellus returned as ther God of Life and gave his old precept to his old archangel. (I don't think that Sucellus made a new archangel since then though, and Basium hates Sucellus so he does not serve him. Basium wanted to be made the god of life so he could better fight demons and was outraged when this honor was given to the failed god of dandelions.)
Archangels are not the same as gods. Gods/Avatars both control and are controlled by the nature of their sphere, which overpowers their free will. Archangels also embody the aspect, but they contain elements of other aspects as well and are far more human and able to make choices that don't distort the entire nature of their spheres. I believe they would count as a seperate class, but it is possible for an archangel (or even a human) to take up a precept and become a god/avatar.
(It has however been implied that The Mithril Golem, Meshabber of Dis, and the Avatar of Wrath (who is Camulos's archangel, and the strongest of many angels who has long sought to usurp the precept of Chaos) are Avatars. Kael may need to clarify the use of the term. )
Auric is a good natured human whose divine spark was in the last life that of the god Mulcarn. As a mortal, this soul is no longer bound to his old precept and he had true free will and he develops a personality all his own. He still bears subconscious memories of his last life, which slowly surface when he grows close to things once important to him. These memories drive him to try to regain his former status, and he apparently succeeds. I'm sure his experiences as a mortal change his personality so he is not identical to the old Mulcarn, but for the most part the power of his precept destroys his new personality and his humanity.
I believe that the Compact doesn't ban archangels from entering creation, but it places great limitations on what they are allowed to do here. They can guide their followers with their wisdom, but unleashing their divine powers is severely restricted.
The power of the Godslayer comes from the god's agreement to be vulnerable to it. That may mean it applies only to those who signed the compact, so it would be useless against Nemed or Cernunnos. On the other hand, the archangels were all present there too and although they didn't personally sign it it makes sense for those who stayed by their gods to be made vulnerable to it as well. Cassiel and Basium both chose to fall (in the same way Sphenor did, only sphenor wished to help his god by fulfilling an oath that conflicted with the Compact, both of which Junil had to uphold, instead of falling to serve purposes against their gods' will.) over disagreements about the compact, so I don't think it would be of any use against them; however, when they chose to fell they chose to become mortal, so an ordinary sword could kill them.
so take anything I say with a grain of salt. (in fact anything I say can be suspect, I hoard a good bit of facts just never the full story. Humm maybe I should be a politician)
