They say that the reptoid beings are very intelligent.
Intelligent enough to know every belligerent nation needs a neutral nation; to buy, sell, and protect what is seized, extorted or annexed.
The naturalist Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre writing on the "history of dragons of the Alps" in 1887 explained that these creatures could all be identified as species of lizards or snakes (seemingly ignoring the cat-headed features).[33] Dalla Torre considered these giant creatures of the past to have died out by his time, alongside the folk belief associated with them, but that the popular notion of the Tatzelwurm in his day lingered on as a "phantom" of those past legendary creatures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatzelwurm
Dragons 1) Like mountains 2) accumulate wealth and sit on it in caverns. 3) Protect treasure with fire