As posted by Samwise on the Discord as part of a discussion regarding yuan-to:
Yuan-Ti first appeared in I1. Their background was extremely clipped, just that they were created from human cultists. One might surmise this was to make them distinct from Howard's Serpent Men, who were overtly sneks first, hoomans second.
With nothing to go on, a random fan wrote an article that was published in Dragon 151. He created an origin for the yuan-ti, tying them to a demon lord named Sch'theraqpasstt, who had gone insane trying to merge his mind with a layer of the Abyss. As part of that, the article created the Black Broth and the transformation process into tainted ones. (And maybe broodguards, though they may have shown up later, I do not 100% recall.)
In Monster Mythology, Carl Sargent added powers for many (most?) of the intelligent monster races featured in the 2E Monstrous Compendium. This included bullywugs and yuan-ti, whose powers were noted as sharing a layer and slumbering together, indulging in drugs and whatever sacrifices were given to them. The similarities to Tsathoggua and Yig, other than the great relationship, are rather obvious.
Later the yuan-ti were included as the primary race of the scalykind in FR, and their lore was adapted to various forms of FR lore, including heavy use of the World Serpent. Several expanded varieties of yuan-ti appeared. A later minor variety also showed up via Eberron. Another bit of random 3E material appears in Savage Species, where a yuan-ti prestige class allows for yuan-ti to drink more Black Broth and transform into abominations.
The last major addition to the yuan-ti came near the end of 3E with the introduction of Sertrous, an elder evil obyrith who was labeled the patron of apostates and theft of magic from legitimate powers. Sertrous has his head cut off in ancient times and was trying to make a comeback. The anathemas, introduced earlier, make good foci for the power of Sertrous.
That is the summary of the yuan-ti.
Original: Cursed men who become sneks.
First Expansion 1E: Black broth, two minor transformed types, and a demon lord creator/patron.
Second Expansion 2E: Additional demon lord creator/patron.
Third Expansion2E: Additional World Serpent and FR ties.
Fourth Expansion 3E: Ascending types, new super-leader type, random minor type, additional FR connections and variant regular types.
The Yuan-ti are or were my favorite villains! I have I1 -- Dwellers of the Forbidden City, Monster Mythology, the Monstrous Manual, and Serpent Kingdoms.
Yuan-ti makes great additions to an adventure since they are psionically active in 2nd Edition. Crossing humankind with snakes to create pure bloods, half-bloods, and abominations to create an evil race really sparks the imagination! Starting with I1 and going on from there, my favorite version is in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual. I don't have to use the deity in Monster Mythology, the Monstrous Manual let me make up that detail on my own. The mysterious power that created them should remain that, mysterious.
I would like to write an article on them on my own someday.
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