The Phiema were a rather obscure culture in the Asogola system. When Seven of Nine was accidentally transported to the year 2270, she needed an alias and a cover story in order to operate in the 23rd century. Spock suggested using this race as her cover story, that she was raised by them as a child, as her Borg implants bared a superficial resemblance to the traditional cosmetic body art of the Phiema, and at the time of the 23rd century very few offworlders had visited the Phiema. (TOS novel: No Time Like the Past)