Shade said:
Dungeon #25 featured an Ancient Vrock (aka The Beast, Jaazzpaa), hinting that vrocks are older than most of the other tanar'ri, IIRC.
I think, rather, that it only means that tanar'ric forms have evolved over time.
The adventure ("The Standing Stones of Sundown") says "Jaazzpaa is an example of a type of vrock seldom seen nowadays, even in the outer planes. The race of ancient vrocks was almost wiped out 2,000 years ago (while Jaazzpaa was imprisoned in his rock) when one of their leaders had an unfortunate disagreement with a powerful ruler of the Abyss. The ancient race of vrocks was quickly superseded by the race of common vrocks, which was less likely to step out of line.
"Ancient vrocks were slightly more powerful than their common kin and posessed two ninth-level spells each..."
2,000 years ago seems unlikely to be "older than most of the other tanar'ri." In fact, I think we can perhaps draw the opposite conclusion - that vrocks in their present form are actually younger than most other breeds due to this act of genocide by an unnamed Abyssal lord.
As a tangent, I wonder if the
stonecase spell described in that adventure - which imprisoned Jaazzpaa in the form of a monolith - is also the cause of the Twisted Forest in the Greyhawk campaign, which imprisoned a band of ancient wizards in the same shape?