So, basically, ewoks who aren't ewoks? Like....wookiees maybe?
Wookiees would've worked fine. We see that in ROTS, actually. Yes, they're technologically advanced, but:
- You could have had them not having access to as much technology due to enslavement by the Empire.
- You could have them not use so much technology because they view it as dishonorable to kill from afar rather than up close and personal.
Although personally I think the notion of "We need these to be primitive savages" is goofy anyway. Lucas based some of that (allegedly) on Vietnam, and I'd bet to another extent on the more mythological depictions of the Battle of Little Big Horn. However, in neither case was the less technologically advanced force DEVOID of technology. The Viet Cong were supplied with Soviet (or Chinese) weaponry, although they didn't have a lot of heavy artillery. They did use plenty of booby traps, though. and while they were outnumbered and outgunned, they knew the terrain a LOT better and were more suited towards it. With the Battle of Little Big Horn, it's now been proven by archaeological evidence that the Native Americans weren't JUST using bows and arrows and tomahawks, but were in fact armed with Henry repeating rifles, whereas Custer's troops -- who were grossly outnumbered, by the way -- were using breech-loading single-shot carbines. In that case, the Native Americans were actually MORE technologically advanced, just not universally so.
Granted, the Little Big Horn information didn't surface at the time of ROTJ, but the Native Americans were still formidable fighters even if you assume they only had bows and arrows. Plus, the cavalry weren't armored. Plus the Native Americans weren't freaking teddy bears!
