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I was wondering, is there much information on the evolution of various units exclusive to the CSM forces? I remember reading somewhere that Malignant Plaguecasters were appearing as early as a thousand years after the Heresy, Word Bearers Diabolists were probably at least in part the descendants of Masters of Possession, and the Exalted Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons are the elite psykers who survived the Rubric. But from what I know, there is little info on the development of specialized forces like Masters of Execution, Lords Discordant, the many unique Death Guard specialists like Foul Blightspawn, and the many kinds of daemon engine. Anyone know more?

My take on extra-chaosy units is that they're generally more of a catch-all name for a wide variety of characters who possess certain traits. So something like a master of execution might have come in a lot of different forms across a lot of different warbands, and eventually the term "master of executions" was coined a common name when people wanted to talk about guys with similar roles and responsibilities. (Or whatever it is that makes a master of execution unique). The Legion-specific versions of this would basically just be the nick-names/terms that a given Legion came up with for individuals matching a certain description.

That said...
* Warp Talons apparently are just the result of marines getting really obsessed with the concept of cutting things. They seem to just be a spontaneous mutation that tends to occur within individuals with that particular obsession, and they presumably get squadded up together because why would you put a guy in a normal chaos marine squad if he's just going to wander off into the warp to get closer to the enemy?

* I think there's some fluff about daemon engines being created in a specific neighborhood of the warp implying that they're all effectively ageless due to warp weirdness? But on the other hand, there's lore of "daemon engines" just being a thing that happens when a vehicle gets possessed or when someone intentionally puts a daemon inside a construct. Which would make these an example of a catch-all term used to describe a large variety of similar things.

* Obliterators are made via the techno-virus. I don't know exactly when that was created, but their origins presumably trace back to that.

* Noise marines were around during the Heresy and can be traced back to Emperors' Children. Although I feel like they're a prime example of something that should probably have multiple origins. Surely some other marines at some point came across sonic guns and decided to lean into that.

Hope that helps.

Character units are just Chaos progressions of what were once Legion positions in many cases. The Master of Executions for example would likely be a former Legion Champion.
Others are just specialised versions of normal Chaos units, such as the Master of Possession being a Daemonology focussed Sorcerer or a Lord Discordant being a high-ranking and skilled Warpsmith.
Many of the Death Guard special units are based on the Legions fondness for chemical warfare enhanced by the devotion to Nurgle.

Yeah, what Gert said. Warp Talons are Raptors that have gone a bit far into the "Raptor Cult" and gone a bit feral, becoming almost half daemons in the process. Just look at the portrayal of some of the Bleeding Eyes in the Night Lords Trilogy for an example of Raptors that are well on their way to becoming Warp Talons.

And as for the development of Daemon Engines, Imperial Armour 13 does "hint" that the Dark Mechanicum uses a form of the old Cybernetica Cortex technology for the containment vessels for the daemons in some of them.

For Daemon Engines specifically, they came about because the Dark Mechanicum and Techmarines (now Warpsmiths) of the Legions became unrestricted in their experiments and projects. By throwing off the shackles of the Treaty of Mars, they could explore new sciences and magics, combining them into terrible new weapons and monsters.
Defilers were specifically created by the Magi of Xana II on the orders of Abbadon in preparation for the 1st Black Crusade. Helldrakes are the mutated and possessed forms of former Legion strike craft that have become a perfect fusion of man, machine, and Daemon.