Ayvah, I disagree with Acesahn's position that only human-looking individuals can be civilized. I simply made an argument against his, because I am interested in his counterarguments. I was not trying to justify anything.
"savage: extremely violent, wild, or frightening; barbaric: extremely cruel and unpleasant" [Cambridge Dictionary]
It seems, that as far as appearance is concerned, savage and barbaric qualities are entirely dependent on subjective opinions and emotions. If, for example, you find a species' appearance frightening or wild, they can easily seem savage to you. However, this will not mean that the same species is objectively savage.
I like you, Ayvah. I am not sure what you are trying to do here.
