The Waking Moment

Each Age of history has been defined by greater stability and greater permanence than the Age that preceded it - the slow succession of Reality over Dream.
It is reasonable, therefore, to believe that the end of the world will come when Dream is finally smothered by Reality, and the cosmic dance comes to an end. A number of cultures around the world have come to the same conclusion, with differing implications.

Nashak

The Nashak people of the Vare mountains are a small but devoted group who believe that Dream is a finite resource that can be used up, and that the world will end once every possible permutation of words and music has been made, and the world has run out of new ideas.
The figure who will usher in this apocalypse is known as The Last Bard. They are a figure of indeterminate species, and the time and place of their appearance is equally unclear, but the rate at which technology is proliferating - the spread of radio, and movies and the recent development of talkies - has heightened the fear that the end of the world is imminent.
As a result, the Nashak eschew modern media, up to and including movable type, and are prohibited from making new music - including singing, humming and whistling - and from idle chatter in order to preserve unheard combinations of words and sounds. They are allowed to repeat existing music as part of their ceremonies, but not to create new material. Their mode of speech is difficult for outsiders to understand, consisting largely of stock phrases and references.

Astam

Conversely, the Astam, who live in the area around Khabad believe that the end of the world can be forestalled through discovery and creativity. By filling the world with new opportunities and new knowledge - new things and concepts that must be named - they add to the sum total of possibilities in the world, exponentially increasing the permutations of ideas and pushing back the day on which the flame of imagination is snuffed out.