John Lyall is an individual of the C9 universe.
He does not experience time as a linear flow. He perceives it as a plot. He knows that if he plants a seed (Chrys) in Year 314, he will get a harvest in Year 340.
He understands human emotion perfectly but does not feel it. He views love, anger, and grief as mechanics to be adjusted in his subjects. His empathy is a performance tool.
Orchestration. He created Whitholium not just as a fuel but as a plot device to drive the conflict he wanted to watch.
Immutable. Like Leinder, he cannot be destroyed by conventional means. He can feign injury or death to advance the narrative.
He does not need Tesseract energy. He is a source of it. He likely built the Tesseract interface to give humans a toy to hurt themselves with.
He can alter his vocal cords, bone structure, and pheromones to shift between identities flawlessly.