The Se Kong, the Se San and the Srepok come down from the Annamite chain to join the Mekong above Stung Treng, and the country between them (Ratanakiri, Attapeu and the Bolaven's eastern foot in the modern terms) is forest, held by upland peoples.
The road to Champa goes up these valleys: the Se Kong approach at Attapeu is the last place a Khmer army can be fed by boat before it starts climbing, and the Se San crossing is a ford on the line of the road from Angkor to Vijaya (board; the crossing point is a guess made from the river and the ground). Armies came this way in the campaign years, so something must have been kept open; nothing in any source puts troops here in January 1200. Modern ethnonyms are used with caution: the evidence for the hill peoples of 1200 is Chinese trade lists, Cham and Khmer stelae naming forest products, Vietnamese notices of campaigns and ethnography of later centuries.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headmen of the hill villages (no name known)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board: forested river country climbing from the Mekong to the Annamite chain, held by upland peoples who owe Angkor tribute in resin, wax, ivory and slaves and no more; this is the road east, and nothing here can be garrisoned.
Overlord
Angkor claims tribute; no governor is shown.
What it holds
- Upland villages and swidden fields
- The valleys of the road east
- Forest goods paid in tribute
How things stand that morning
A road through unwatched forest; no army is placed here.
Wealth
Resin, wax, ivory, slaves (board).
Places of note
- Se Kong approach (Attapeu): Last river stage before the climb.
- Sesan and Srepok basins: Forest river country.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry attapeu-se-kong-approach and sesan-srepok-basin: 'contested' and 'likely'. We draw the foothills as a peoples' country and the crest as a contested one.
- Map ruling (sheet builder, pass 1): the Se San and Se Kong hills are drawn in the peoples' colour over the outline of the Khmer realm in this researcher's own realm record. This record says the Khmer realm does not govern the range, so the narrower record stands over the wider one.
Evidence: Geography, the campaign years and the campaign board.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A block; villages are not located.
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.