The word "demon" comes from Ancient Greek where it was used to describe semi-divine beings and generally lacked the negative connotations of the modern word. Early Christians later co-opted it as a term for "servitors of foreign/hostile deities", from which it rapidly morphed into something more explicitly evil. In that sense, it's a common concept in many real-world religions, a generic term not linked to any one in particular and that therefore fits with the typically polytheistic worldview of D&D.The vrock specifically has no direct antecedents in mythology or in Christian demonology. It may be partly inspired by the demonic Tash from C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, but the resemblance isn't that strong and could be coincidental. Vultures appear in the myths of both African and American cultures since similar birds live on both continents. (In reality, the "vultures" on either side of the Atlantic are not closely related, despite their physical similarity, but this may not be relevant in a fantasy world).
However, despite their association with death and carrion, while vulture-deities are sometimes regarded as malevolent, they more often are not. In many myths, they are just part of the natural cycle, perhaps even performing a positive service by clearing away decayed matter. But, from a modern Western view, there's something foul about them that results in them being regularly portrayed in a negative light. Hence, no doubt, the vrock.
1E
In 1E, demons follow a clear hierarchy of increasing power. Although the progression is not so clearly stepwise as it is for many other creatures with multiple 'ranks', it is emphasised by the fact that we're initially told that demons are more commonly referred to by a numerical designator than by a name. Vrocks, therefore, are "type 1" demons, although the actual name is given as an alternative. This is ditched from as early as 2E, although it returns as a more general category of minor demon in 5E.
Physically, the vrock in this edition has a basically humanoid body, mostly covered with what's either hair or fine feathers and with a large pair of wings rising from behind its shoulders. The arms end in four-fingered clawed hands, while the feet are semi-digitigrade, with one of the toes projecting backwards as a claw from the heel. There are also pointed spurs on the knees and elbows. The tail is that of a bird, implying the presence of an avian pygostyle at the base of the spine, rather than the typical mammalian structure. The head and neck are vulture-like, with a small braincase and feathered scalp. Given that the vrock in this edition is no more intelligent than an ogre, this may make sense, assuming that a demonic entity is constrained by the physical properties of the brain it possesses, which, admittedly, it might not be.
Given their chaotic nature, and that demons as a whole are unlikely to be limited by genetics and heredity, there's no reason that all vrocks would have the same form in the way that one would expect of, say, a particular species of dragon. So the fact that the look changes in later editions can, in this instance, be explained by some vrocks genuinely having a different form. The most extreme example of this is the 2E illustration, which shows what is essentially a normal-looking vulture with spindly human arms (with five-fingered hands) emerging from beneath its wings. For what it's worth, it seems to resemble a real-world griffon vulture rather than any other kind, but that may not mean much.
3E
The version of the vrock shown here is once again a winged humanoid, but with an attenuated body. The legs are fully digitigrade now, ending in a birdlike 'anisodactyl' foot, with three claws pointing forwards and one (the big toe) pointing to the rear. It has only three fingers on each hand, which have scaling similar to that on the feet of most birds. Aside from the wings, there are prominent feathers on at least the upper back, although it doesn't have the vulture-like ruff seen in the 2E version. The arms, legs, and hips also have what look to be downy feathers (but could be fur), as does the upper part of the tail, which is otherwise entirely mammalian in form. The head similarly has both mammalian and avian features, with a beak that projects forward from a wider toothy mouth and what look to be mammalian cheekbones. The spikes projecting from these bones and up along the side of the skull are, perhaps, more reminiscent of ceratopsian dinosaurs than anything else.
The vrock is harder to injure than before, perhaps because of a dense body (it's quite heavy for its height and build) or of a non-terrene body that might not be troubled by things such as blood loss. More significantly, it's now noticeably more intelligent than the average human, rather than significantly less so, a cunning monster rather than a dull brute. We were also told in 1E that the vrock was no stronger than the average human, but it turns out that the 3E one is superhumanly strong, on a par with a troll and therefore better than most ogres.
Finally, starting with 2E, the vrock gains multiple new powers, having previously only been telekinetic, able to see the invisible, and to summon others of its kind (and it was pretty bad at the last of those). Which might sound impressive, but doesn't match the additional abilities, especially the combat-related ones, that the newer versions have.
5E
Physically, this version of the vrock is closest to the 3E kind, having the same basic body plan and build. The skin is smoother and darker in colour, the downy feathers not quite so extensive, and the hands have four fingers again, but, especially by the standards of a creation of chaos, it's identifiably the same kind of thing.
Aside from the improved hit points typical of 5E, in many respects, the vrock is toned down from 3E. Its strength is high, but not superhuman, and below that of a troll or ogre, and it's also less agile. While it keeps the new attack powers of 3E, it loses the other magical abilities, such as the telekinesis, that it originally had in 1E. It's also now a brute again, not quite so low in intelligence as in 1E, but still below the human norm. Oh, and it can no longer fight by slashing with its toes which, when you think about it, must have looked a bit odd unless it was in the air at the time.
On the plus side, while the 1E vrock could specifically be killed in the same manner as any mortal creature, by 5E it's immune to non-magical weapons and, if its physical form is somehow destroyed, it just creates a new one back in the Abyss. Such things were true of the most powerful demons before, but they were well beyond the puny powers of a vrock, which was evidently more tied to its physical body in 1E.
When it comes to speculating about the biology of vrocks, we run into the obvious issue that they aren't supposed to be regular biological creatures even to the extent that, say, dragons are. Since they aren't native to this plane of reality, they aren't subject to its laws in quite the same way. More significantly, perhaps, since destroying their body doesn't actually kill them, and simply forces them back to the Abyss, they are more accurately described as spiritual beings that create temporary physical forms in order to interact with the material world.
Having said this, those temporary physical forms do have to abide by at least some of the laws of the universe they are manifested in. And, from this, we can deduce at least some things about the vrock's biology and internal anatomy, if not, perhaps, with the same level of confidence we might about griffons and so on.
For instance, we know that vrocks, like other demons, have to breathe and can, potentially, be suffocated or drowned. Their body, therefore, requires energy that it obtains by oxygen, and must do by means of lungs. Indeed, most pictures of vrocks indicate that they have a ribcage of broadly mammalian type, which implies that their lungs are likely also to be mammalian in general form, even if the fine details might be different. The ribcage would be radically different if they weren't.More generally, we can say that since a vrock has an outwardly vertebrate appearance, we can assume by default that most of the internal organs also mirror those of vertebrates. If vrocks have blood or ichor flowing through veins, they presumably have a heart, and there's no reason that it shouldn't be in the obvious place (although it doesn't have to be, and their chaotic nature may play a part here). Bones and muscles almost certainly closely parallel those of animals because we can see that they do from the shape of the demon's body.
With other soft organs, though, things may be less clear. Vrocks can eat, but they don't have to, and apparently can't be starved. They must have a digestive system, and it seems hard to argue that this wouldn't include a stomach and intestines and vrocks presumably defecate even if they don't really extract nutrition from what they eat. But whether they'd really need, say, a liver and kidneys is less clear if they're held together by magic (and, apparently, oxygen) rather than by the full range of organic biochemistry. I'd suspect they probably do have many of them, simply because they are imitating the vertebrate form, and because, well... they're not likely to be hollow, so there has to be something in there. But, technically, they may not have to have the full set of organs. Why bother with, say, an endocrine system?
One set of organs they almost certainly don't possess is a reproductive system. It's a little difficult to tell from the pictures because of the pose they're typically shown in, but vrocks do not appear to have external genitalia, and some of the other demons clearly don't. According to the 5E Monster Manual, vrocks are spontaneously generated from the environment of their home plane or (more rarely) are created by more powerful demons 'elevating' a dretch. Either way, internal generative organs are not required, especially given the absence of external ones.
Although vrocks, at least when manifest on the material plane, appear to be made out of regular matter, it is likely their discorporate spirit that animates it and gives it form. Most versions, for instance, state that the vrock's body dissolves into goo when it 'dies' on our plane, implying that, unless the body is reasonably intact, the entity can't hold it together and keep it functioning. Do too much damage and the demon's hold over its physical form fails and the matter composing it returns to its natural state.
Demons are, however, resistant to some attacks that ought to harm physical matter. The exact details vary between editions, but, in 5E vrocks, like other demons, are resistant to electrical attacks and extremes of temperature. The latter, in particular, is likely very useful in the Abyss. It's less clear exactly how it would work, given that other forms of tissue destruction (such as acid) appear fully effective. Instead, it seems to be a magical effect necessary for survival in their harsh natural environment.
In the case of the resistance to lightning, however, this could well be due to vrocks either not needing, or perhaps not even having, a regular nervous system - the animating spirit controls the body without the need for nerves. This would reduce the effectiveness of trying to electrocute them, although the intense energy of the lightning strike would still cause physical harm. Their limited reliance on biochemical metabolism would also explain why they can't be poisoned.
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