Following the Asterist Crusades, Oceanyka's eastern realms underwent a process of rapid modernisation, aided by Morlon of Toffia's gift to civilisation: the "Wordly Reflections". Suddenly, the technological and economic advantage which the western Aboriginal kingdoms possessed began to fade. In 1619, fortune changed its winds as the Dutch invaded Jayakarta, establishing the city of Batavia from which the titanic capitalist enterprise known as the Dutch East India Company (VOC) would be commanded. The Dutch were already commercial partners with the westerners, which now sought technology and military alliances. A greater amount of military conflicts started springing up, with European-style gunpowder weapons such as the Istinggar Arquebus becoming prolific, preferred over their Malay counterparts such as the Bedil Jawa Arquebus.
This era was marked by increasing European influence across Oceanyka. Trade and diplomatic relations between continental powers and the colonial empires grew in scale and depth; it was not uncommon to see English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese advisors, mercenaries and engineers in the courts of Oceanykan sovereigns. However, these rulers were not unaware of the growing size and ambition of European colonial ventures, feeding the popular perception that (if allowed), foreigners would seek to subjugate Oceanyka. Suspicions were raised once more in the early 17th century, when following their invasion of Java the Dutch Republic began to overtake every other colonial power in the Malay archipelago, becoming a monolithic commercial empire through its Dutch East India Company. Suddenly, the language of trade was no longer Malay, but Dutch. A number of treaties were formed between Oceanyka's most important power players, promising that if the Europeans were ever to conduct a general invasion of the island, they would band together.
The Oceanykan Middle Ages are considered by most historians to end in 1746, when the Dutch East India Company, in a dire need for more land and resources after their victory in the Java War of 1741, decided to begin the Dutch Invasion of Australia, intent on turning it into a jewel of its empire not unlike British India or Spanish Mexico. Regional powers allied against this initiative, being forced to modernise with lightning speed following a number of crippling defeats, thus beginning the Early Revolutionary Age.